Here we are, with the first proper episode of Wings of Canon PANIC?! which, as you can guess, will be wild and uncanonical. This snippet is set on October 27th 0000 AU (After Unravel), so basically the day after the prince rescue mission.
I don’t have any plans on actually having Seriko appear in The World Without Authors, so as of now her canonical status remains “she exists in an alternate timeline somewhere”. Maybe I’ll have her appear in an Odd Bits piece, but nothing set in stone yet.
What I can do, though, is provide some of the lore about her here! Because, of course, I did come up with the backstory of a joke character…
Seriko Cherryflower
Birthday: April 13th, 2019 HST Age: 10 years old as of Unravel Height: 143 cm Blood type: A
As the comic implied, Seriko is yet another alternate and half sister of Keiko, the “missing combination” born in a timeline in which both Nikki and Ami survived, but Sergio died instead – he likely took the bullet that killed Ami in the “main” Wings of Canon timeline.
Nikki would only find Strike Dove afterwards, and end up meeting Ami due to the latter’s insistence on wanting to apologize – Ami would likely suffer from survivor’s guilt due to the fact that if she died in Sergio’s place he and Nikki would’ve been able to get reunited. Nikki would reassure Ami that it isn’t her fault, since Sergio was always recklesslly selfless when trying to protect others, and the two girls would become friends while trying to overcome their shared grief.
And, as the existence of Seriko pretty much wordlessly states, they would eventually become lovers. Seriko is their natural daughter, with Nikki having given birth, but how she was conceived is something I will leave unanswered – was it through some kind of spell? Did Nikki get splashed with the same potion Aviator was? Did Ami get temporarily genderbent due to some other shenanigan? Or did they have access to the technique used to create the mouse Kaguya?
What I can say, though, is that Seriko’s name was indeed chosen by Nikki and Ami because it shared the first three letters with Sergio’s – he had saved Nikki’s life many times, and gave his to save Ami’s, so without him protecting her mothers Seriko would’ve never been born.
Like her alternates nd half sisters, Seriko was born on April 13th 2019 HST, but in the Wings of Canon PANIC?! universe she was plucked from her own timeline in 2029, and as such she’s six years younger than Keiko and Hajime – the idea indeed being to send the latter into glomping mode upon the realization that she had a cute little sister.
Shamelessly stealing Aelit’s usual definition of the air combat shenanigans aside, Chapter 19 marked a return of the spec-ops style assaults my characters were actually more known for before The World Without Authors, and the new arc of course focuses more on it than aerial warfare. As such, I believe another post detailing what they can (or can’t) do is in order!
Sergio
Since his creation in 2006 for Mai Dire Fine, Sergio has always been mostly a gunfighter as far as fighting was concerned. He has changed his weapons of choice a few times before his current loadout , but aside his very first loadout of stun laser weapons it always consisted of an assault rifle chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO and a pistol chambered in 9x19mm Parabellum, which which he is quite proficient. He is, however, moderately skilled with other kinds of firearms, including submachine guns, shotguns and anti-materiel rifles. He is a decent marksman (though not anywhere near Ami), but his lean build means he will struggle keeping a machine gun on target. He is also proficient with a combat knife, both held in hand (often together with his pistol in an Harries stance) and affixed as a bayonet to a rifle. He has good tactical awareness and is a quick thinker, which makes him a good squad leader, but is also quite impulsive and prone to act recklessly if he lets anger take control. As far as supernatural powers go, Sergio nominally received a copy of Kathleen powers from her but has never been able to make any use of them, and due to disuse they have athrophized to the point of being almost completely gone. He only retained some dream vision ability (though in times of stress he is likely to mistake them for regular nightmares) and his machine empathy might actually be a derivative of those powers as well.
While currently his loadout is a Beretta ARX-160A2 assault rifle, a Beretta 92FS pistol and an Extrema Ratio Fulcrum Bayonet knife, other weapons in his availability include one of the Beretta MAB38s captured on the Kumaneko (which he used during the assault on Fliegenderberg Air Base as he didn’t get his ARX back yet at the time), and the small portion he left in Corolla’s care of the weapons he had collected during his PPC service (he sold the others back to Zim’s armoury after his retirement): a Benelli M4 Super90 semiautomatic shotgun, a Barrett M82A1 anti-materiel rifle and a M66-SD submachine gun from the Killzone continuum. None of these three weapons saw action during the first arc, as shotguns are illegal under war conventions, the M82A1 doesn’t fit with the kind of quick assaults Skystreaker Squadron does while not flying, and the M66-SD for some weird reason uses a subsonic variant of the old 7.62x33mm round developed for the M1 Carbine during WWII which is difficult to find in the Unraveled World.
Nikki
As a badfic clone of Sakura Kinomoto, she originally relied on the Clow Cards in combat. After losing them, she relied on a small snubnose revolver during her pre-PPC wanderings, losing it just before ending up in PPC HQ via plothole. Her magic being in flux at the time, after a brief period of relying on a Muggle-Use Wand she decided to learn magic from the Lyrical Nanoha universe, the Midchildan system in particular. As such, she managed to have a custom-made (actually, more of cobbled together with what was available) Storage Device built for her, Vanguard, which Techinician Caroline of DoSAT managed to make into a versatile and reliable weapon despite its piecemeal construction. Vanguard used to be equipped with two modes, the vaguely spear-shaped Lancer Mode for casting ranged spells and the lightsaber-like Saber Mode for close range combat. However, the damage it sustained after Nikki’s crash made a full repair impossible with what Corolla had available, so it is restricted to Saber mode only as of now. Its standby form is a blue star-shaped gem, which Nikki usually wears on a string around her neck. During her wanderings, she also learned how to use hand grenades, and while she didn’t like the destructive fragmentation ones she appreciated the utility of “flashbang” and smokescreen ones. In combat, Nikki is a proficient fencer and a decent caster, while at the same time providing cover with shielding spells and special grenades. As such, she tends to take point together with Sergio, her keen eye for details ofter allowing her to give him those important details that allow him to come up with the winning strategy on the fly. She is also the one who values life most of the Skystreakers, and she usually casts non-lethal variations of offensive spells. Overall, Nikki is a strong close range combat specialist, but she is lacking somewhat in range.
Her most used spells are the following:
-Shoot Barret: The basic shooting spell of the Midchildan system. Nikki can manage four energy bullets at a time with Vanguard in Lancer Mode, and one with Vanguard in Saber Mode. While she lacks the fine control Nanoha shows in the series, she’s still reasonably accurate with them. -Round Shield: One of the most common shielding spells, it takes the shape of a round magic circle floating in front of the user. Nikki can cast one at a time, strong enough to take some hits from full-size rifle rounds and several from assault rifle intermediate ones before shattering. -Protection Powered: Nikki’s other favourite shielding spell, it takes the shape of a dome around her and her allies. While fairly effective against magical attacks and gunfire, it failed to fully protect her Eagle Plus from a full micromissile burst during the Battle of Sand Island, but still managed to take the brunt of the attack preventing her plane from being istantly obliterated, allowing her to limp back to the island. A sub-spell of Protection Powered is Protection Purge, which detonates the barrier. Its main use is to repel a melee attacker or as reactive armor, but it also helped Nikki clear out the layer of rubble covering her in Chapter 1. -Arm Defenser: A melee-oriented shielding spell she developed with Ari’s help, it takes the shape of a barrier over her left arm. Its main purpose is to allow her to parry an incoming bladed strike while leaving Vanguard free for an immediate counterattack. -Grenade Accel: Another of Nikki’s self-developed spells, it is used in combination with Vanguard’s Lancer Form basket-shaped pommel to allow her to launch grenades further and more accurately than by hand. -Ring Bind: A binding spell that consists of energy ring blocking the target’s wrists and ankles. Nikki is decently proficient with it, but will leave it to the more proficient Corolla if she is around. -Auto Guard: Not really a spell but more of a function, Auto Guard allows Vanguard to automatically bring up a defensive spell without Nikki’s intervention if a threat is detected. -Physical Heal: A basic healing spell. Nikki is decently proficient with it, and she is able to close wounds and heal bruises fairly well. She can also put back together broken bones, but she isn’t able to fully mend them meaning they will remain more fragile until natural healing can finish the job. Likewise, she will be overwhelmed if the patient has a large amount of injuries. -Raging Blossom: The last of Nikki’s self-developed spells, it is her “finisher”. It is her peculiar take on the “magic beam” bombardment spell, using a second outer ball of mana to help compress the one forming the base of the beam in a manner reminiscent of a Voitenko compressor. The end result is that the entire power of the beam is “compressed” in a shorter, denser burst of faster mana that delivers more damage than the same amount of mana in a regular bombardment spell, allowing Nikki to “punch above her weight class”, but the drawback is a longer preparation time and increased stress on her and her Device.
As a fighter pilot, Nikki has also been issued a handgun to be carried for self-defense and hunting in case she is shot down, and as a backup to her magic when deployed in ground combat. She originally was issued with a Beretta M9 (the military variant of the Beretta 92, of which a handful were found on Sand Island as they’re the standard-issue sidearm of the OADF), but upon her return to active duty she switched over to one of the FN Herstal Five-seveN Strike Dove had recently bought as she favors the ligher recoil of the 5.7x28mm round. She made a permanent switch to the non-lethal RL35C laser pistol as soon as it was introduced, though.
Corolla
Corolla, being a Unison Device from the Lyrical Nanoha continuum, is basically a weapon herself. On her own, she mostly specializes in support spells like shields and binds, with her offensive spells being usually laughabily weak and mostly good for distraction only. What she really shines in, though, is her mastery of recon spells combined with her ability to brute-force hack into computer systems magically. As such, Corolla’s position is pretty much always that of a support.
Nikki’s appearance while Unisoned with Corolla.
Of course, as a Unison Device her triumph card is performing Unison with a mage using the Midchildan or Belkan (Lyrical Nanoha Belka in this case) magic systems. While Nikki is formally registered as her master, and so far is the one Corolla had the most compatibility with, she has free reign on choosing who to Unison with depending on the situation, and has in fact Unisoned with Ari in Legendary Illogic. Like all other Unison Devices, while Unisoned the hair, eye and Barrier Jacket colors of the mage will be affected by Corolla’s own – Nikki’s hair turns dark blue, her eyes the same light blue as Corolla’s, and her Barrier Jacket’s white primary color and light blue secondary get inverted to reflect Corolla’s own scheme. While her mana reserve has grown to the point of allowing her to live day-to-day in full-size form (140cm tall), during non-Unisoned combat she will usually go for her Unison Device form (30cm) to both allocate more mana to her spells and provide a smaller target to enemy fire.
Corolla’s main spell list is as follows:
-Moonlight Dagger: Corolla’s only known offensive spell, it summons twelve mana darts from a vertical magic circle. Corolla can usually summon up to four circles (for a total of 48 darts), but her fire control abilities would technically let her to cast up to sixteen (192 darts) if she is provided enough mana. Despite the large numbers, though, the spell is usually fairly ineffective as the damage of each dart is absymal, with enemies being barely affected even after being turned into pincushions. -Round Shield: While less sturdy than Nikki’s, Corolla can cast multiple of them overlayed, replacing them continuously as they fail, and has finer control over their positioning, meaning that she can provide cover for an entire group with only a moderate effort. She is also able to use them creatively, having used them also as platforms or even offensively to block the windpipes of enemies. In fact, Corolla’s only on-screen magical kill was performed this way in So Much For Sublety. -Ring Bind: Corolla is also very proficient with this binding spell, requiring only a small window of the target being stationary to cast it, and she is capable of keeping multiple targets immobilized at once. -Area Search: A scouting spell that sends out small orbs of mana to recon an area, and can be pre-programmed to search for specific targets. Corolla has excellent proficiency with it, being able to scout the entirety of Stier Castle in very little time despite being also busy providing shields at the same time.
Contrary to what one would expect, Corolla also learned how to use firearms and combat knives, though her small frame limits her greatly on what she can effectively wield – and, even then, she tends to have a “spray’n’pray” shooting stile which wastes ammo while getting a subpar hit ratio (something she also tends to do as a fighter pilot). She chose as her issued sidearm the Five-seveN, which is somewhat big for her small hands but its recoil is manageable for her. The only other firearm in Strike Dove’s inventory that she is able to wield is the FN Herstal P90 submachine gun, which Strike Dove bought concurrently with the Five-seveNs (as they both are chambered for the same 5.7x28mm round) to replace the obsolete MAB38s.
Ami
While her skillsets before and after the Unravel are wildly different, Ami’s main specialization remains that of the team’s designated markswoman. She is a very accurate shooter, able to hit targets at considerable distances both with conventional rifles and spells. However, her small frame prevents her from using effectively larger calibers or automatic weapons, with her pre-Unravel incarnation struggling even with the low recoil of the P90 submachine gun. After the Unravel, though, Ami “obtained” the slightly stronger body of her fanfiction character, allowing her to use said gun more effectively, but her recoil control is still not good enough for anything stronger. Being a Midchildan-system mage now, though, her weapon of choice is of course her Storage Device, Moschetto. It takes the form of a bull-pup rifle with a scope in its combat form, and a dogtag with a round purple gem in standby form. With it, Ami is mostly specialized in long-range shooting and recon spells, the latter being augmented by the Blaster System installed in Moschetto. While developed as a magical power booster, it would wreck havok on Ami’s small body and average mana reserves, so she usually leaves that feature disabled, using the Blaster Bits only as recon drones and remote firing platforms. Moschetto is equipped with the Cartridge System: a rifle-like action that loads shotgun-shell shaped cartridges containing compressed mana that allow an instant power boost for the spell currently being casted, at the cost of increased strain on mage and Device. Fun fact: the name of Ami’s Device is recycled from the scrapped sequel of IrregularS, in which it was to be the name of Mami Tomoe’s Device. The name, Italian for “musket”, was originally meant to reflect the theme of her attacks being named in Italian and her magical weapons being based on flintlock rifles, while in Ami’s case she was likely inspired by the little bits of Italian she picked up from Sergio for her fictional counterpart’s weapon. Overall, Ami excels at long range engagements, while she struggles somewhat in close quarters.
Her main spells are these:
-Shoot Barret: Like Nikki, she can manage up to four at a time, but is more likely to cast them one at a time to take accurate guided shots. -Stinger Ray: While somewhat similar to Shoot Barret, it trades accuracy for rapid-fire capability. While Ami can fire it from Moschetto, she usually uses it as the “machine gun” of her Blaster Bits. Ami Cappuccino likely was taught it by the original user of the spell, Chrono Harlaown. -Stinger Snipe: A more specialized shooting spell that can be guided to pierce multiple targets. Like Stinger Ray, it was originally Chrono’s. -Area Search: While she cannot multi-task it as effectively as Corolla, Ami is a proficient user of this spell. -Railfire Shooter: Ami’s own finisher spell, it is a railgun-like attack that uses the mana of a Cartridge, alongside Ami’s own, to propel said Cartridge down the barrel as a projectile. While the bulk of the damage comes from the kinetic energy of the impact of the hypersonic improvised bullet, some of the Cartridge’s mana can be left in it and set to perform an additional effect upon impact, like a bind or a tracker. Being a solid projectile, it was classified as a mass-based attack normally illegal under TSAB regulations and so Ami had to obtain autorization before each shot, but now that she is back in Strike Dove (and the TSAB is largely gone) she doesn’t have that restriction anymore. Again, this is a spell I had originally developed for IrregularS‘ sequel, and would’ve been employed by Homura Akemi.
As a sidearm, Ami currently carries a Five-seveN, and like Corolla she favors its low recoil despite the fact the gun is somewhat oversized for her small hands.
Ai
As a minor with no combat experience whatsoever, Ai doesn’t take part in ground operations. She is still receiving some training on how to handle firearms in case of emergencies, though.
Kathleen
Kathleen in combat mostly relies on the environment manipulation abilities granted her by her ESP powers, which border on straight-up reality warping (She is an ex-Suviam). As shown already, her teleportation ability allows her to take swift flash-steps (though she cannot do it in quick succession without tiring herself out), and take weapons off enemy’s hands. She also has a limited ability to create objects – while I don’t think she can actually make a functioning firearm, she can give herself a bladed weapon in a pinch. She can also provide some healing, though she cannot treat severe wounds by herself.
While she has been trained in the handling of firearms, she isn’t a fan of using them and so refuses to carry one, claiming that she “counts as a weapon” herself. The variety of her powers, combined with her wild and unpredictable behaviour, make her a somewhat effective joker card to have in the sleeve.
Faith
While she is now mainly Strike Dove’s medical officer, Faith is also an accomplished sniper herself having been trained under the Black Organization of Detective Conan. While she favors bolt-action sniper rifles, she is perfectly capable of handling automatic weapons, though she still prefers to fire them in semi-auto mode to fire single accurate shots. Like Ami, she is more of a long-range fighter, and tried to avoid close-quarters combat as much as possible. She is also, of course, very skilled in first aid, and her medical skills likely saved a few lives during the Battle of Sand Island.
As of now, she doesn’t currently carry a firearm on her person, but if deployed her typical loadout would be of a sniper rifle and as a sidearm a Beretta 92/M9.
Keiko
Keiko is a Magical Girl, and so relies mostly on her water-based powers in combat. Her powers consists of various water-based orbs and blast, the smaller of which she can cast directly from her hands but the most powerful attacks require her to summon her gun-shaped magical weapon, which she nicknamed the “Glorified Super Soaker”. While good against her monsters-of-the-week, against human targets those blasts don’t tend to be guaranteed knockout, but they still are effective in disrupting them. Like her father, Keiko does have her impulsive reckless moments but has shown signs of having inherited also his quick tactical thinking.
Upon her recruitment, her father insisted on gifting her a gun, a Beretta APX pistol (9x19mm NATO) and, upon her transferral to SpecOps, he gave her his Beretta ARX-160A2 to give her more offensive options against Suvians. She isn’t a fan of guns, though, and she is also a bit of a lousy shot with them so the APX saw little use in her hands and the ARX saw none. As such, she was more than happy to hand off the latter to the younger version of Sergio she met in the Unraveled World.
Overall, Keiko is more of an area of effect/control fighter, being good at keeping enemies busy but lacking the means to dispatch them effectively.
Hajime
Hajime had already started training to become a Strike Dove operative, so she is quite familiar with firearms. She is a good shot, having apparently inherited her parents’ talents, and is a practical thinker who can keep a cool head even under duress. She is also very knowledgeable in survival skills, which ended up being essential for her and Keiko after they ended up in the Unraveled World.
Her current weapon of choice is a Beretta ARX-200 battle rifle (7.62x51mm NATO). While the weapon is capable of firing fully automatic, though, Hajime struggles keeping control of the recoil that way and so she mostly uses it in semi-auto as a marksman rifle. Like Keiko, she was gifted a Beretta APX upon recruitment in the PPC, and she used hers more than her sister did. She is also quite proficient with the P90 submachine gun, which she considers a good alternative to her ARX when the fight is expected to be in close quarters. While her age means that she will be deployed only in emergencies, she still practices with her guns regularly.
All in all, Hajime falls somewhat in the gap between her father’s skilled mid-range gunplay and her mother’s excellent long-range shooting, being good at both but not really excelling at either.
This is it. Twentieth and last chapter of the first arc! I think this is also a good time to put here properly, for those who don’t know it already, that The World Without Authors has spinoffs! They’re London, Unreal by Huinesoron and And This is the Gate of Heaven by Desdendelle. Both have received my official Seal of Approval, and in fact Desdendelle and I have worked together on the last chapter of his (and on a couple scenes of this chapter).
As usual, thanks to Doctorlit for his irreplaceable beta services, and thanks again to Aelit for the chapters on which we collaborated, and the tips he still gives me on how to make his characters act when I’m not sure.
Mission Record 20 – Galahad
“We’re ready when you are, your Highness,” Corolla said as she tapped in the last instructions on a holographic window.
“Thank you very much, Miss Corolla.” Prince Frederick glanced at the wall behind him. The main screen of the Wolfram’s conference room had been set to display the royal blazon of the Bedwig house and a Belkan flag, and a podium with a microphone had been set in front of him.
He did a quick re-read of the speech he had prepared, and took a deep breath. “We shall begin.”
“All broadcast aircraft online,” Corolla shouted. “Live across the continent in three, two, one… Now!”
“Good morning to all those who are watching this transmission. I am Prince Frederick of Bedwig, ousted monarch of the Principality of Belka. The news about my illness was fabricated by the military junta currently usurping power in our country.
“I have been their prisoner for several months just because I opposed their plan of bringing this continent under the military hegemony of Belka. A handful of brave souls, however, saw through their deception and rescued me from their claws.”
“The war waged against Japan and its allies was not authorized by me, and it will never have my support. Our country has a proud warrior history, but it is my belief that Belka will be even greater by walking towards the future alongside other countries, not by trampling over them.
“Especially now that our country has found itself in this unknown world, we need to build our future and face the uncertainty of this new situation by helping each other, not by creating more strife. This war is nothing but a tragic mistake, one that I seek to end.”
“Soldiers of the Kingdom of Belka, your enemy is not the NATO coalition but the snakes who have been living among us poisoning our hearts. As the commander in chief of the Belkan armed forces, I order you to cease any and all attacks against NATO forces. I have already sent an offer for a cessation of hostilities to the NATO coalition, so anyone who insists on fighting them will be considered a traitor. I humbly ask NATO forces to show mercy towards Belkan forces if they are following my order.
“Members of the Grey Men faction, the Belkan War is long over. The countries you want to enact revenge upon don’t even exist anymore, and the ones you waged war upon are completely innocent. Cease this senseless slaughter and surrender, your time is over and your hate will not prevail.”
***
Sergio relaxed against the backrest of his Galahad’s seat and closed off both the NATO radio channels and the intercepted Belkan ones. “Wow… that’s utter chaos out there.”
“Of course it is!” Snow transmitted from the SF-26 Blaze flanking him. “Now the Belkans don’t know what they’re fighting for anymore, and our guys aren’t sure whether they should shoot them either!”
Keiko’s VF-0 Phoenix flanking him on the other side closed in a bit. “So… the war is over?”
“Not right away,” Sergio said. “But if, say, half of the Belkan forces turn out to be loyal to the Prince and ally with us to help oust the Grey Men, it will be over soon.”
“That’s correct, Lightning,” Long Caster said. “We still need to push through a few more entrées before reaching the sweet dessert. Alright, the Prince’s speech is over. All units, mission accomplished. Let’s get back to base.”
Sergio flicked the switch to fold the giant dish antenna that had been installed on his Galahad in place of the multipurpose container. “Lightning, roger that.”
***
“As I think you heard yourselves, Operation Messenger Pigeon was a success,” Johnson said. “Prince Frederick’s speech reached deep across the continent and we didn’t face much opposition aside from that single squadron that tried to pay a visit to Long Caster but got repelled by Cherryflower and Grimm. With this, another milestone has been set towards the end of this war.”
Ami couldn’t help but smile. For the first time since the start of the conflict, peace was finally in sight.
Johnson shut off the holographic projector of the Wolfram’s conference room. “The Wolfram will now head back towards Sand Island, so that we’ll be able to perform maintenance on our aircraft and continue work on the incomplete ones. We will resume our usual schedule of working with the NATO coalition to support their operations, but depending on how many Belkan troops are loyal to Prince Frederick there might be an operation to try to reinstate him soon.”
Wow, they really are thinking ahead!
“What about Shilage? Did you manage to get some intel about Sol Squadron from him?”” Sergio asked.
Johnson shook his head no. “I didn’t have enough time to ask him all my questions, the central NATO headquarters claimed custody of him and the wreckage of his plane already. On Corolla’s insistence we managed to make the experimental railgun ‘disappear’, though, and we also got confirmation that this iteration of Sol Squadron was working in a contractor-like fashion, apparently under this ‘Professor’. Shilage didn’t know his name, though, and we only got the given name of the pilot flying as ‘Nemesis’, which seems to be Chris. From what he overheard, she’s the Professor’s daughter.”
“She?” Sergio’s eyes widened. “She’s a girl?”
“Yes. Apparently, the ‘Professor’ also tried to hide her gender, to further help conceal her identity. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get Shilage to describe them to a portrait artist before he was brought away, so we don’t have a lot to work on to try to identify them.”
Johnson looked straight at Sergio. “That would’ve helped a lot, since this ‘Professor’ seems to know you.”
***
“I’m pretty sure the only Professor I know is Hiroshi Agasa,” Sergio said as he idly stirred the cola in his glass with its straw. “And Shinichi confirmed that he’s still there building silly gadgets in Tokyo.”
Ami propped herself on the table. The Wolfram’s officers’ bar was empty at that hour, which meant they could talk freely. “What if it is a badfic version of him? I mean, we had two of you in this world, and there’s also Nikki and Hanami, so…”
“Hmm…” Nikki began. “He would share pretty much nothing with the canon character, if I remember well he’s still single and definitely doesn’t have a daughter. Besides, I don’t think he appeared in our fic at all?”
Corolla scrolled through one of her holographic windows, sipping on her drink’s straw at the same time. “That’s right. On the good guys’ side, the only Detective Conan character who has any appearance at all is Shinichi himself, obviously as ‘Conan’ since he’s still shrunk into a kid to this day. And a search for the word ‘professor’ only came up with…”
“Aurora’s Italian professor.” Sergio chuckled. “A minor villain, and the most nonsensical one. Besides, she was a woman, so unless she had a sex change or is very good at crossdressing he can’t be her. And I can’t really see her becoming a big schemer villain anyway.”
Nikki leaned towards him. “She worked for Marcus, didn’t she? Wasn’t he a scientist?”
“Yes.” Sergio’s eyes narrowed. “A deranged mad scientist with world domination delusions. I’m sorry, but I highly doubt the charismatic Professor we got told about by Shilage could be him.”
Ami lowered her eyes. Sergio always became tense when speaking of his old nemesis. Some scars never fully heal, do they?
“What about the version of Albus Silente from our fic?” Nikki wondered. “He was one of the villains, and before becoming Headmaster he was a professor. Maybe a younger version of him, with the memories from our fic?
“Also unlikely. Shilage’s interrogation report says he did a lot of technical work, and doesn’t mention a single spell.”
Corolla closed her window. “Maybe he’s someone you faced in one of your previous adventures, or during your first year at Strike Dove?”
Ami looked up in thought. “I don’t think we met anyone like that, no.”
“And nothing comes to mind from the time I was an Interpol investigator either.”
Nikki crossed her arms. “Seems that we’re back to square zero again.”
“Allow me to bring some good news, then,” Johnson said as he approached the table. “I suggest all four of you check your own bank accounts.”
Ami gave him a puzzled stare, and from what she could see out of the corner of her eye Sergio, Nikki and Corolla were doing the same. Nevertheless, she brought up Moschetto and opened her home banking page on a holographic window.
The last movement was a deposit, and she counted the zeroes several times to make sure it was not a mistake.
“That’s…” Nikki said
Sergio shook his head. “There must be a mistake.”
“Is that what I think it is?” Corolla asked. “Yes, it must be!”
Johnson smiled. “If you mean the ‘bounty’ you kept rambling about every time you guys crossed paths with Shilage… Well, it turns out there indeed was one. I took the liberty of splitting it equally across the four of you, since from what I understood it was a group effort.”
“That’s right.” Sergio nodded slowly. “Well… looks like we won’t need a mortgage for that house.”
***
Chris flopped on a chair in her father’s lab. “I’m telling you, that thing gets on my nerves.”
The Professor chuckled. “She is… unusual, all right. But behind that armor, there is a person like us. I’d like for you to not think of our collaborator as a thing.”
He glanced at his whiteboard. “Besides, if I didn’t trust her I wouldn’t give her the most delicate role in ensuring my Dream comes to be.”
Chris rubbed her forehead. “You gave it to a gal who sounds like she’s a grade schooler having too much fun playing mercenary.”
“But she is professional, skilled, cannot be traced back to us, and has the freedom of movement we currently lack. Sometimes, the true value of an individual can’t be seen at a first glance.”
He turned back towards his daughter. “Have a bit of faith. Don’t you want to be reunited with your mother?”
***
Nikki stood in front of the white-trimmed Galahad in Corolla’s hangar. “So… This is my plane?”
“Exactly!” Corolla pumped her fists. “SF-32N, close quarters combat specification, with a few bits and pieces carefully chosen to suit you best.”
Corolla paced over to one wing. “I took the liberty of borrowing the forward-swept outer wings and the canards from Xaos’ Siegfrieds. As such, it will be even more maneuverable than the other Galahads, but at the cost of losing the wingtip rails and tighter weight limits on the other hardpoints. Though, considering you don’t like doing bombing runs, I don’t think that’s going to be much of an issue.”
Nikki nodded slowly. “That’s right. I’ll focus mostly on other fighters from now on, and if I can I want to force them to retreat, not destroy them outright.”
“Which is what Delta Flight used to do back in their world, too. That is why I also borrowed these.”
Corolla walked over to the right wing root, where the right-hand mini gunpod was located. “I replaced the LM-27s with the same LM-25s used on the Siegfrieds. They’re just as accurate, but the smaller caliber means you can more easily control how much damage you’ll be dealing to enemy craft.”
“You really thought it over,” Nikki said with a smile. There was no doubt, Corolla had done everything in her power to make sure she could use that plane to fight her own way.
As in, with the least possible amount of bloodshed.
Corolla ran over to her, tackling her in a hug. “Of course I did! We’re friends, right? And I don’t want my friends to have regrets. I really don’t want to see you suffering that way ever again.”
Nikki laughed. “It won’t happen, promise. And… We’re not just friends. We’re family.”
***
“I have visual on the enemy reinforcements Shit, it’s the White Birds!”
“Isn’t their flight leader the one who shot down the King of the Sky? I’m outta here!”
“All aircraft, retreat! Retreat!”
Sergio couldn’t believe his ears. He was getting used to some enemy pilots panicking after spotting his plane – but it sounded like the entire enemy front was pissing its pants in terror.
“They’re… retreating already?” Ami asked. “We didn’t fire a single round yet!”
“Uuh… Uh.” Long Caster’s voice sounded unsure. “Enemy aircraft retreat is confirmed. According to our ground troops, the enemy’s ground units are surrendering, as well.”
Sergio relaxed against his seat. “This is just ridiculous…”
He took a deep breath. What kind of monsters do they believe we are?
As he glanced down, though, he couldn’t help but smile. The fighting had entirely stopped, which meant that an element of Skystreaker Squadron showing up had effectively stopped any more deaths from happening.
***
“Today marks two weeks since Prince Frederick of Bedwig, head of the Principality of Belka, broadcast his speech across the continent. With the reveal of his extraneity from this war, the Belkan armed forces effectively split into two, with a loyalist faction supporting him now fighting alongside NATO troops against the nationalist faction that has been revealed to have been usurping power in the nation since the very start of the hostilities. The new power balance effectively led to the Belkan lines crumbling, with the fighting having now reached the borders of Belka itself. The Prince, who claims to have been rescued-”
Sergio shut down the television in the pilot’s lounge. “Yeah, we know that part of the story. We were there.”
He turned towards his grandfather. “By the way, what’s the official NATO stance on that operation?”
“Well, of course they’ll never admit it was all the idea of a small private military outfit acting outside of official orders.” Johnson chuckled. “The official stance is that he was liberated by Belkan loyalists reaching out to the NATO coalition, and that we just happened to be those chosen to perform the extraction operation to bring them to safety.”
Johnson laughed again. “In reality, you should’ve seen their faces when I waltzed in alongside the Prince, and said, ‘Here’s the Belkan prince, he actually wants to end hostilities. Oh, and my guys bagged the Ace Killer and a prototype Belkan aircraft along the way, too.’ They still weren’t too happy about us acting on our own, though.”
Sergio put down the remote and crossed his arms. “But, the way things developed, I think we proved them we were right, didn’t we?”
“That’s right. And that’s why we’re gonna do that again.”
“This is AWACS Long Caster of Strike Dove Incorporated. We’re escorting Prince Frederick of Bedwig back to his rightful throne. To all those who wish to end this pointless war: please join us.”
Sergio looked out of his Galahad’s canopy while Long Caster repeated his transmission. As crazy as it sounded, there were already answers to that call.
Below him, the Wolfram was being flanked by Xaos’ Macross Elysion and Strategic Military Services’ Macross Quarter, with Variable Fighters from both variable space carriers already in the air.
“Long Caster, this is Umiroku Squadron of the JASDF. We’ll be joining your operation.”
Sergio shook his head. “Of all the crazy things we’ve done, this is the craziest. A full frontal assault… Everyone and their dog will be after us.”
“And we’ll make them bite the dust!” Corolla shouted. “With such a blatant operation, we’re going to flush out all those loyal to the Grey Men, and take them all out in a single swoop!”
“And prevent a long and bloody civil war from happening,” Nikki completed for her.
“Wardog One to Long Caster. Our commanding officer will have us demoted when we get back, but we’ll be supporting you.”
Good to see Hibiki and his squadron are in the game. They’re good.
“This is Indigo Team of the honorable Belkan Air Force. We have sworn our loyalty to the Prince, and we’ll see it through to the end. Long Caster, we will join the operation. You may be mercenaries, but anyone fighting for a real cause gets our respect.”
“Ghostrider Squadron of the US Navy to Long Caster, you can count on us. We owe our lives to the Skystreakers, it is time to pay back the favor. ”
“This is Grau Squadron of the Belkan Air Force. We heard the Prince’s speech. Long Caster, our most sincere apologies for Sand Island. We’ll try to make up for that mistake.”
“Apologies accepted, Grau Squadron,” Long Caster said. “What really counts is that we’re all on the right side now.”
“This is incredible…” Grimm said while the airspace around the three ships kept getting more and more crowded. “It’s like Sudentor all over again, soldiers from both sides are coming to our help!”
“Never underestimate the will of people believing in peace,” Nagase said.
“That’s right,” Snow agreed. “Evil may be strong, but there’s plenty of good men and women too.”
“Long Caster to all aircraft. We’ll be over Area B7R soon. We expect fierce opposition to show up there, but we still have some time so I’d like to ask if our top ace has some encouraging words for everyone.”
Sergio gulped. Me? I’ve never been good with words!
Nevertheless, he cleared his throat and pushed the radio button.
“This is Skystreaker One, TAC name Lightning. If everything goes well, we’re ending this meaningless war today.”
Way to state the obvious. What more can I say…
“We may have fought each other in the past, but that doesn’t mean anything.”
Come on, there must be something cool and inspiring I can say!
“Let’s leave our anger behind. Hatred and revenge are what caused the death of many of our comrades.”
Okay, this may work. Let’s keep it up.
“As we fight today, let’s not do it to avenge those no longer with us, but to give a peaceful world to those who are still with us. Let’s prove to those warmongers that an open heart is stronger than a closed fist!”
By blasting them up anyway. Man, that was corny.
“Razgriz Squadron, roger that!” Snow answered right away.
Well, such a speech is right up their alley.
“Haro Squadron, roger!”
Thanks for the sympathy, Hiro.
“Wardog Squadron, roger that!”
Hibiki must have understood my plight.
“Delta Flight, roger.”
“Skull Squadron, roger.”
Wait, what?
“Umiroku Squadron, roger.”
“Grau Squadron, roger that.”
It worked?
“Ghostrider Squadron, roger!”
“Indigo Team, roger.”
It really worked!
“Long Caster to all aircraft, we’re at Area B7R. I’m picking up several enemy aircraft headed our way. Weapons free, all aircraft follow Skystreaker Squadron!”
***
“These coordinates are your actual objectives,” the Professor said as he handed over a few slips of paper to Chris, Miksa and Foulke. “It goes without saying that we’ll disregard every single order coming from the Belkan forces. Make sure to pick up the last of your belongings before getting in your aircraft – not only are we not getting back to the Durandal, but this ship is headed towards the eye of the storm.”
Chris glanced at her aircraft. Her Sv-262C Draken III had finally been completed, and some kind of large bomb had been slung under one of the wings. It was large and cylindrical, white with a yellow flat tip at the front. “I know I already asked, but… that’s not a nuke, right?”
“It uses a thermonuclear fusion reaction instead of a fission one, so it won’t have radioactive fallout. But it is still powerful enough to completely obliterate your target. If no one else has questions, we can sortie.”
Chris turned towards the blue Mobile Suit the Professor had started walking towards. “Are you sure? You’re going to crash and burn in that thing.”
“This is a Kampfer. It is leagues above a Zaku, and I got enough practice lately. Focus on not getting shot down yourself – you’ll be against Skystreaker One today, after all.”
Ami took aim carefully towards an Anura-class air cruiser. Being the markswoman of Skystreaker Squadron, everyone had agreed to give her Galahad the railgun they took off Shilage’s Draken III.
It’s up to me to put it to good use now!
She pulled the trigger, and electricity cracked as the railgun fired. Flames erupted from the cruiser’s starboard engine, which then exploded in a big orange fireball.
“Comet, one cruiser down!”
“I found the one with the railgun! I’m enga-”
Ami turned around, but the enemy aircraft was already breaking apart. Between them, an SF-26 Blaze with magenta trim was standing in Battroid mode, aiming down its Support Assault Cannon.
“No one is going to shoot down my mom, understand?”
Ami laughed. “Nice shot, Thunderbolt.”
***
“Sir, Sol Squadron has changed direction and is not responding to communications.”
Weisse huffed. “Those cowards must be running away. Ignore them, we’ll deal with the White Birds and the traitors ourselves.”
Weisse looked straight ahead. “We’ll be arriving at the Round Table soon. Deploy the Vogels!
“Long Caster to all allied aircraft. A new enemy aerial warship has entered Area B7R. Looks like it is the Durandal.”
Ai gulped. The stealth flying aircraft carrier?
“It is only deploying drones for now, but be careful.”
Ai gripped the Galahad’s controls, and looked for her next target. Some white triangular drones were closing in, and she fired a burst of micro missiles at them.
There were several explosions, and some drones fell apart. She had no time to rejoice, though, as her missile alarm blared. The smoke dissipated, and more drones appeared.
Ai turned her Galahad into GERWALK mode and backpedaled, firing wildly with the Assault Cannon and head turret lasers. She managed to intercept the missiles and destroy some more drones, but it looked like two more appeared for each one she shot down.
“This is Mermaid, I need a little help!”
“Blue Skull to Mermaid, I’m on it.”
Blue Skull? Who is that?
A blue Variable Fighter dove in the middle of the drones, turning into Battroid mode as he did so. It twisted in the air as if it was breakdancing, firing its gunpod at the same time.
In a blink of an eye, the area surrounding the two Variable Fighters was cleared.
“Thank you so much, Blue Skull!”
“It was a pleasure.”
The blue fighter turned into fighter mode, and accelerated away. It was a design Ai didn’t know – it looked like one engine had been clamped over each of its thin, forward-swept wings.
Now that she wasn’t busy with the drones, she realized the pilot sounded fairly old too.
“Lightning to Mermaid, are you alright?”
“Yes, I got some help from Blue Skull. The guy with the blue four-engine VF.”
“I see. I guess I should thank him- wait, Blue Skull? He’s here, and flying a YF-29?”
“Oh, I’m famous here too.” Blue Skull sounded genuinely surprised. “Who knew…”
Sergio obliterated a Flapper with a quick burst from his Galahad’s gunpod. “Lightning, splash one. Damn, I’m losing count.”
“Keep it up!” Long Caster cheered him. “Belkan Nationalist reinforcements have dried up, their numbers are starting to dwindle.”
“Good to hear. I’m getting a few more Flappers out of the picture so we can start thinking about how to deal with the Durandal.”
“Good idea. I’m analyzing the ship as we speak. It looks like it wasn’t fully repaired since-”
There was a blinding light from above, and the glass of Sergio’s helmet darkened automatically. “EMP ALERT” appeared over the Galahad’s multifunction display, and radio comms became more garbled.
“Lightning to Long Caster, do you read me?”
“EMP… warhead… no radiation…” Long Caster’s voice was drowned in static.
Someone fired a nuke or something high up in the atmosphere?
He glanced around. It looked like the aerial warships and most Variable Fighters were still up in the air, but the sky was dotted with parachutes and falling aircraft. The EMP effect knocked out many aircraft on both sides.
He took a deep breath. “Skystreaker Squadron, status report.”
“Skystreaker Two, I’m good.” Ami’s voice was still staticky, but much less than Long Caster’s.
“Skystreaker Five, same!”
“Skystreaker Four, I’m OK.”
Sergio gritted his teeth. Corolla hadn’t answered.
“Robogirl, are you alright?”
“I… kinda… system error…”
Shit!
Sergio took advantage of the confusion to look for Corolla’s aircraft. Her Galahad was still flying, but it was rocking left and right as if Corolla was drunk.
Nikki’s Galahad was getting close, as well, and Sergio brought up the squadron status window on his display. “Starlight, the EMP effect must’ve gotten to Robogirl. I’m slaving her aircraft to yours, bring her back to the Wolfram.”
“Leave it to me.”
Sergio pushed a few buttons, and Corolla’s plane stabilized, now following Nikki’s like a shadow.
“Long Caster to Skystreaker, do you hear me?”
“A bit better now. What happened?”
“Someone detonated a reaction warhead in the high atmosphere. The EMP wave knocked out many aircraft on both sides, what’s your squadron’s status?”
“No losses, but Robogirl’s being affected herself. Starlight is escorting her back. What about the others?”
“Razgriz and Haro are alright, the Wolfram is doing some damage control but is still in fighting condition. We received reports of three more such explosions across Belka – Stier Castle, Avalon Dam and Camaalot have been wiped out.”
Sergio blinked. Avalon Dam was the main Belkan ICBM site, and he had recently learned that Camaalot, like Stier Castle, was one of the Grey Men’s headquarters. “Did someone on our side get too trigger-happy? Or did the Belkans self-nuke again?”
“I don’t know, but we need to focus on the matter at hand. The Durandal is still active, and there’s still enemy aircraft in the air as well.”
Sergio nodded. The battle was slowly resuming, they would have plenty of time afterwards.
“Nemesis, Cherub, Pixy, the attack was successful,” someone said over the radio. It was a calm voice Sergio didn’t recognize, but couldn’t help but feel sounded familiar somehow. “Time to reveal ourselves.”
I was wondering when they were going to show up. Is that the Professor?
“That voice… No way!” Kathleen shouted.
“The Brimstones are approaching Area B7R, bearing 344, four aircraft!” Long Caster shouted. “As if we didn’t have enough on our plates…”
Sergio took a deep breath. “It can’t be helped. Comet, Knight, with me. We got some scores to settle with them. Mermaid, Tsunami, Thunderbolt, Lowroar, join up with the Razgriz and help them flush out the Durandal’s last escorts. Long Caster, send us Starlight as soon as she’s up in the air again.”
“Are you insane?” Sergio snapped at her. “You’re the least experienced here, and those guys are good. I don’t want to see you die again!”
“Trust me, I know what I’m doing,” Kathleen said, her voice deadly serious for once. “If that guy is who I think he is, this is something I need to do.”
Sergio resisted the urge to facepalm. You never know what you’re doing, but you’re not going to listen either. “Alright, but I’m still having Starlight come to help you as soon as she can.”
He turned towards the direction Sol Squadron was coming from, Ami’s Galahad and the two Gundams forming up on him. “Let’s end this.”
***
Corolla massaged her own head while Nikki laid her on an infirmary bed. “Ow…”
Error messages and fuzzy HUD windows floated spastically all around her vision, her stomach turning on her as she tried to single one out to close it.
She hadn’t felt this bad since that one time she had thought it would be a great idea to mix CAFfine and Pink Stuff.
A pale green magic circle appeared under her just as Shamal walked over. “It was the EMP wave, right?”
“Yes,” Nikki said. “She’s still conscious, but…”
“Let me see…”
Corolla lifted her arm weakly. “I don’t plan on dying now, don’t worry. Just close those Sankt-Kaiser-damn error messages for me, please.”
“There doesn’t seem to be any permanent damage,” Shamal said. “Your self-repair subprogram should be able to handle it with no problems. You just need some rest.”
“Thank Madoka…” Nikki let out a sigh of relief.
Corolla blinked. “Rest? But I cannot rest now, my friends are out there fighting!”
She sat up, but the world started swimming in front of her eyes once again. She fell sideways, with Nikki catching her just in time.
Sergio fired wildly with the gunpod as he flew backwards in GERWALK mode, destroying the micromissiles chasing him one by one and filling the sky with smoke.
Nemesis’ Draken III emerged from the smoke in Battroid mode, headed towards him at full throttle with its sword unsheathed.
Sergio switched to Battroid mode and quickly pulled out the beam saber from its bay, parrying the attack just in time. He curled up the Galahad’s legs and kicked the Draken III away, following with a quick burst with the left wrist mini gunpod.
The Draken III backpedaled in GERWALK mode, then fully transitioned into fighter mode and accelerated away. Sergio turned the Galahad into fighter mode as well and gave chase.
She’s not as good a dogfighter as Shilage, but she’s still damn good and contrary to him, she knows how to use all modes.
He got a lock and fired two standard missiles, but Nemesis was quick to turn around in GERWALK mode and obliterate them with machine gun fire.
Sergio fired a burst of micromissiles as well, following it with a long burst from the gunpod. The Draken III weaved around, continuing to destroy missiles while it dodged the shells.
We’re matched too damn evenly for my tastes. We both know the same tricks.
“Just go down already!” Nemesis shouted as she turned her aim towards the Galahad.
Sergio shifted the Galahad into GERWALK mode, trying to circle her while continuing to fire his own gunpod as well.
“Well, excuse me if I want to live! Why are you so obsessed with me anyway? You’re not even a Belkan to begin with!”
Nemesis fired another burst of micromissiles. “Yeah, I’m Italian, so? Like knowing that will help you.”
Sergio set the head turret to intercept mode, and let it deal with the missiles as he fired a full salvo of XMAAs in her general direction to throw her off.
She’s Italian too? Great, we’re an endangered species and we’re trying to kill each other!
“Answer my Madoka-damn question! At least the Belkans gave a reason for wanting me dead!”
Nemesis charged in again with her sword. “I don’t need you dead! I just need to defeat you!”
Sergio parried with the beam saber, and kicked the Draken III back again. Nemesis lost grip of her sword, which fell in the woods below.
“Good to hear, but you’re still evading my question!”
Nemesis charged in again, this time going for a punch. “You get on my nerves, is that good enough?”
Sergio tried to dodge, but while the punch flew over the Galahad’s shoulder the two machines still collided, the Draken III’s momentum enough to send them both into a rock face.
The two Variable Fighters recoiled off, falling on the ground in a tangled heap amid a shower of dislodged boulders.
Ami rolled out of the way of the laser beam fired by Pixy’s Draken III.
“Is it you behind this?” she shouted. “The reaction warheads?”
“The Grey Men had outstayed their welcome.” Pixy’s voice was low, but resolute. “It is time to start anew… you know what I mean, right?”
“If you intend to bomb Japan too, I’m not going to allow that!”
She gave chase and fired two standard missiles, but Pixy managed to dodge them.
“As long as there are borders, there will be war, Comet. And as long as there are governments, there will be borders.”
Pixy’s Draken III turned into GERWALK mode, and spun around to fire a couple missiles at Ami. She rolled, turning her Galahad into GERWALK mode as well, and retaliated with both mini gunpods.
“And you think doing a massacre is the way to fix it?”
Some rounds hit the Draken III, but it didn’t look like they had done any meaningful amount of damage.
“It’s the only way. We have to get rid of the borders dividing us, and give power back to the people.”
Pixy dove towards the ground, weaving around the wreckage of an aerial cruiser to dodge Ami’s gunfire. “Besides, don’t tell me you’re not doing a massacre yourself. You know how many people crewed these things? You really renewed the legend of the Demon Lady of the Round Table today, buddy.”
“We gave them the choice to surrender, but they tried to intercept us anyway!”
“And that is why we need a forceful approach, Comet. The world won’t change without sacrifice.”
“And you think things will really change just by removing governments?” Ami gritted her teeth as she gunned down a missile headed for her. “You take one wall down, another will get built up! Political beliefs, race, money, sports teams… people will always find ways to create divisions and hate each other!”
“Is that so?” Pixy seemed to contemplate the thought for a second while his Draken III turned into Battroid mode. “So what is your solution, Comet? Keep fighting one war after another, until someone kills you?”
Pixy fired another laser beam from his gunpod – a handheld mecha version of the Tactical Laser System, probably.
Comet rolled out of the shot and turned her Galahad into Battroid mode, taking aim with the railgun. “Make things better day by day, that’s what I do!”
She fired while upside down, and Pixy barely parried the shot with the Draken III’s shield. He turned the mecha back into Fighter mode, and accelerated away.
This time, the Draken III showed signs of damage – the shield folded to become the tail fin, but it failed to close completely.
“Fighting my entire life, to make things better,” Ami said as she gave chase. “It’s a decision I made a long time ago, like my parents before me!”
“Dammit…” Pixy whispered. “It takes more than a fancy plane to fight like that. You really believe in what you’re saying, don’t you?”
Hiro crossed blades with Miksa, pink energy beam against metal and energy barrier blade.
“Is this the ‘dream’ you’re following, Miksa?” Hiro shouted. “One of destruction?”
“One of rebirth,” Miksa said as he slashed again. ”But to allow rebirth, the beasts feasting on the carcasses have to be eliminated. Otherwise… We’ll never be able to be together.”
“And yet, you’re fighting me instead!” Hiro said as he parried with the Arondight heavy beam saber. He pirouetted, and retaliated forcing Miksa to step back.
Miksa had a new mecha, alright, but Hiro had to give it to Corolla: the new modifications, which she had dubbed “Knight Destiny Gundam,” made his machine much more responsive.
“I don’t want to be your enemy, Miksa, but you have to stop this nonsense!”
“Then you have to let me through,” Miksa said. “We dealt with the dark part of the Principality of Belka, but there’s darkness in the rest of the world too.”
“The world will never be fully devoid of darkness, Miksa! The yin and the yang… you know what I’m referring to, right?”
Miksa’s Draken III stood still, sword in hand. “I know. But-”
“I don’t believe in crazy plans or magical solutions, Miksa. I believe in fighting all the darkness the world has to offer by standing side by side with my friends.”
Hiro charged in, aiming for the arms of the Draken III. Miksa tried to dodge, but the Knight Destiny’s Arondight cleaved the variable Fighter’s left arm off above the elbow joint.
“Look around you,” Hiro said as he parried Miksa’s counterattack. “The Belkan nationalists, the ones who started this war, are losing! As I told you, I’m not alone… and my friends and I are stopping this war.”
Miksa backpedaled, firing a burst of micro missiles. “But this won’t prevent a new war from starting in five or ten years, will it?”
Hiro let the head turret machine guns deal with the missiles as he switched to the beam rifle. “Because your solution will? People never learn from history, new villains take the place of old ones!”
Hiro aimed for one of the Draken III’s leg joints, hoping to take one of the engines off the plane. He fired, but the hit didn’t fully sever the leg, instead opening a gash in one of the engine nacelles.
“… Perhaps you’re right,” Miksa said. Hiro could hear alarms going off under his voice.
“Hiro… get away.”
“No, I won’t. I’m here to save you. To save you from this madness.”
Small explosions started to erupt from the damaged leg.
“I know you want to. But… The Cordium engine is going critical. For me, it is too late… but you can still save yourself.”
Hiro’s blood froze. His friends of Skystreaker Squadron had mentioned that Cordium engines were extremely volatile – did his last attack doom Miksa?
Kathleen flew towards the blue mecha, beam sabers in both manipulators of the Wave Gundam. She raised them to strike, and charged straight at it.
The blue mecha sidestepped, avoiding the attack. “Well, isn’t this unexpected? But I’m glad to see you’ve made it to this world safely, Kathleen.”
Kathleen clenched her teeth. “No thanks to you… dad.”
“Such a cold reaction… I assume the me from your world was one of the least sympathetic ones?”
“You wanted to conquer the world and tried to kill us all!” Kathleen shouted as she slashed again. Her father’s mecha parried with the shield it carried on the left arm.
“That was despicable of me, I agree with you.” His voice didn’t betray any reaction. “Be reassured that I don’t plan anything like that.”
Kathleen sidestepped, aiming for the mecha’s back, but her father parried that attack as well. This time, with what Kathleen could only describe as a “giant-ass glowing ax.”
“You’re still working with the bad guys though. That doesn’t really build my trust.”
“Only for as long as they could be of use. The fall of the Grey Men was always a desirable outcome to me, as you can guess by the fact we just lent a hand.”
Kathleen pirouetted to bring her other saber on target, but her father’s mecha back stepped in time to dodge.
“Let me guess. You’re up to something crazy all over again.”
“I’m just trying to realize my Dream. I’m sure it’s one you can get behind.”
Kathleen tried to keep her breathing in check. He’s toying with me!
“Sorry, the only dream I have is for people to just let me live my own life in peace!”
“You may not believe it, but it isn’t that different from mine. We both know how it is to be a victim of someone else’s dark plots.”
“I was a victim of yours!”
Kathleen moved to close in, but two large gatling guns flipped up from the blue mecha’s back just as it grabbed what looked like two giant sawn-off shotguns with its manipulators. The blue mecha flew backwards away from her, opening fire with all guns – the shotguns fired what looked like plasma blasts.
Kathleen weaved through the onslaught. “A bullet hell? Really? You know I’m a pro at Touhou Project.”
“I do not wish to harm you, Kathleen. But if you keep attacking I’ll defend myself.”
“But I need to stop you! Before you ruin my life again!”
“Wolfram to all allied aircraft. We’re preparing to fire the Augusto cannon at the Durandal. Please clear the line of fire.”
Hayate summoned her captain’s key and stood at her console. A holographic lock appeared in front of her, and she inserted the key in it while the ship repositioned itself to fire.
“Aiming is completed!”
“Line of fire is clear!”
Hayate turned the key, unleashing the full power of the main magical cannon of the Wolfram on the Belkan vessel. When the light cleared, the Durandal was still in the air, but much worse for wear: no active weapon emplacements were detected, and fires streaked all across its hull.
Johnson crossed his arms. “They’d be crazy if they tried to keep fighting like that.”
Prince Frederick took a deep breath. “I agree. Commander Yagami, please…”
Hayate nodded. “Your Highness, I’m going to open up a communication channel so you can ask them to surrender.”
“Thank you.”
A few seconds passed, then a holographic window opened showing what looked like the bridge of a sci-fi vessel. Most of the crew was working frantically at their positions, red alarm lights were flashing and it looked like there was smoke in the air.
A person who looked like the captain of the ship looked straight at the people on the Wolfram. “Prince Frederick.”
“I assume you are the captain of the Durandal?” the Prince asked.
“Yes. I am Commander Weisse of the Belkan Air Force.”
“Then, I order you to surrender. Your ship is no longer in condition to fight; please spare the lives of your crew.”
Weisse closed his eyes. “I do not take orders from someone who defiled the warrior traditions of Belka. Full ramming speed.”
“Sir…?” one of the Durandal’s crew members asked.
“That’s an order! If we are to lose, they must not win either!”
Prince Frederick froze in shock as the holographic window closed. Commander Weisse must have been completely out of his mind.
“Evasive maneuvers!” Hayate ordered.
The Wolfram listed to starboard as it turned to get away from the Durandal’s run. Before the latter got close, though, what looked like a three hundred meter tall mecha flew in between the two ships, and grabbed the hull of the Belkan vessel from below.
“Macross Quarter to Wolfram.” The voice was that of Jeffery Wilder, the captain of the Quarter. “Please give us some space, we’re going to deal with these fanatics. All hands, prepare for the Monday Night Attack!”
Johnson raised an eyebrow. “Monday Night Attack?”
Hayate rolled up her eyes in thought. “I only know their Crazy Wednesday Formation, but if it is anything like that… they’re up to something cool. Full speed reverse, let’s give them the space they need.”
Once the Wolfram had gained some distance, the Quarter arched backward and let herself fall towards the ground, slamming the Durandal’s bow into the ground. Part of the front hull of the Belkan vessel telescoped in, and the carrier broke in half at the midsection, the stern half falling on the ground upside down.
The Quarter, instead, managed to right herself up just before touching ground with a burst of its engines.
“Well…” Johnson started. “That’s a new way to sink a ship.”
Prince Frederick kept staring at the wreckage. “Did they just…”
“Suplex a spaceship.” Hayate whistled. “And they say I am crazy.”
“Can you see it, Pixy?” Ami shouted as the Durandal broke apart in the distance. “This battle is over! They wanted war, and tossed everything they had left at us. But we won, and you know why?”
She took aim, and fired with the mini gunpods again, scoring a few hits on the wings of Pixy’s Draken III just as they flew past each other.. “Because the will of those wanting peace is stronger!”
“You’re really turning my words against me, aren’t you?”
Ami turned around, only to have to roll out of the way of the laser beam. “We want the same thing, Pixy… Peace. Give the path I found together with my friends a try.”
Pixy chuckled. “Isn’t it ironic, buddy, for two mercenary dogs of war like us to actually want peace?”
He fired two missiles at her, which Ami dealt with with her Galahad’s head turret lasers.
“I’m sorry, though. We’re two faces of the same coin… similar, but facing different ways. I’m afraid we’ll never see it the same way.”
They passed each other again, and Ami selected the railgun pod.
“If that doesn’t sit well with you, buddy, you have to come shoot me down.”
“That’s exactly what I intend to do.” If her words couldn’t get through, it was time for the heavy duty persuader.
She turned around, finding herself facing Pixy head-on once again. The Draken III’s laser pod fired again, and Ami rolled out of the way, this time turning her aircraft into Battroid mode at the same time.
She gripped the railgun tightly, and took aim.
Shoot true, and you will never miss.
“Come on!”” Pixy shouted.
Pixy corrected his aim, and the laser beam hit Galahad’s left shoulder. Ami pulled the trigger,and kicked away full throttle, just as the energy conversion armor failed.
The Galahad’s canard got severed from the shoulder and fell off, but her railgun shot hit the Draken III straight on its left side, ripping the entire wing off.
Ami turned her Galahad into GERWALK mode and turned to follow the Draken III as it went past, trailing smoke.
“Looks like I’ll have to paint both wings red from now on,” Pixy said as he continued straight instead of turning back. After all, his plane was crippled.
The Draken III lost altitude, and eventually hit the ground.
“Pixy?” Ami asked. “Are you OK?”
Pixy laughed, his voice more staticky. He had likely ejected. “Still alive, buddy. Until next time.”
Hiro stared at the huge orange fireball under him. It was just like Ami had told him, a failing fighter-sized Cordium engine was a high-yield bomb.
He took a deep breath, still holding the limbless Draken III tighter.
“Hiro… You could’ve died too.”
“Nonsense. I told you: I’m making this one the world where we can finally be together.”
He turned around so both him and Miksa were facing the center of Area B7R. The only ships still in the air were the Wolfram, Elysion and Quarter.
“Look. The fighting is over. We were just a handful of people, me and my new friends – scattered shards of worlds already gone. And yet, we ended the war.”
Miksa laughed. “So, this is the way you found?” “No. This is our way – Strike Dove’s way.”
Sergio wrestled with the controls of the Galahad. The aircraft shook, but refused to move and a red “ACTUATOR OVERLOAD” warning covered the multifunction display.
“Damn it!”
He took his helmet off and looked out. From what he could see, the Draken III was immobile as well. Due to its armored canopy he couldn’t see inside, but a hatch in it slowly started opening.
Hoping to catch her by surprise, Sergio opened the Galahad’s canopy and jumped out, but Chris apparently had his same idea. They jumped into each other and rolled down to the ground, not unlike their own mechas had just done.
Sergio got to his feet just as Chris did. He squared her off: roughly as tall as Nikki, light framed, long, dirty blonde hair, ice blue eyes behind a pair of glasses, and of course glaring at him like he was the source of all her problems.
Despite the fact they had never met before the first time she went gunning for him in Tokyo.
This face looks new to me. Is she after some kind of alternate of me?
Chris clenched her fists, and Sergio raised his in a guard. “I’m telling you again: I have no idea who the hell you are, and I’m pretty sure we have never met before Tokyo.”
Chris charged in for a punch. “I don’t really remember you either, but I know I have to do this!”
Sergio sidestepped to dodge. Okay, she’s missing a few sprockets.
“And how do you know-”
Chris turned around, and punched him straight in the stomach. Sergio staggered a couple steps back, and retaliated with a hook hitting her cheek. “I’m asking you a question!”
Chris spat out, “I just know it, OK? And my father says he agrees.”
Chris went for a roundhouse kick, which Sergio parried. He grabbed her leg, and used it as leverage to toss her on the ground.
“Your father? This “Professor” guy? I’d like to know why he’s so interested in me as well!”
Chris jumped back on her feet. “Ask him, I haven’t figured it out either!”
Just as she prepared to attack again, though, a large blue mecha vaguely reminiscent of a Zaku landed behind her.
A MS-18 Kampfer?
Chris turned towards it as well, and the chest armor of the Kampfer opened to reveal the pilot’s seat.
“Dad!” Chris shouted.
Sergio tried to get a better look at the pilot. Let’s finally see who this guy is.
Contrary to Chris’, that face was familiar. Sergio’s blood froze in his veins. That was one face he had hoped to never see again.
No way… of all people, not him!
“Hello, son. Long time no see.”
“…You,” Sergio managed to say.
If he wants me dead, there’s not much I can do. On foot against a Mobile Suit doesn’t tend to work very well.
Just as he thought that, though, the Wave Gundam landed next to him, beam sabers in hand.
“I don’t think he ever called you ‘dad’, and I doubt he’s gonna start now,” Kathleen shouted through the Gundam’s loudspeaker.
A rope unrolled from the open flap in the Kampfer’s armor, and Chris quickly climbed it to reach the cockpit. The Kampfer took off as soon as she was inside.
“I have some business to take care of, so I will take my leave now,” The Professor said, “but I believe we’ll meet again. Until then, take care. Hopefully, your mother will be able to attend the next family reunion as well.”
Sergio turned towards the Wave Gundam as the Kampfer sped away. “Kath, let me in! We need to go take them down!”
The cockpit opened, but before Sergio could try climbing up Kathleen rappelled down instead. “I’m afraid it’s not gonna work, the engines lost a lot of power as I was getting here.”
“… The thrusters, you mean?”
“Thrusters, engines, whatever. I called for reinforcements, but our father is slippery, remember? He’s going to be fully gone by the time anyone gets here.“
She crossed her arms. “Besides, if anything he just said about Mom is true, I don’t think we should kill him. Not yet, at least.”
Sergio sat on the ground, his back against the Gundam’s foot. “You may have a point. Any news from the others?”
Kathleen sat next to him. “So, Ami and Hiro managed to shoot down the other two. Corolla is already trying to get out of bed, everyone else is OK and the remaining Belkans are surrendering left and right after their last flying ship got suplexed by that transforming one on our side.”
Sergio blinked “… I missed all those comms?”
“I picked up that stuff my own way.”
Sergio nodded slowly. “Right. Wait… you said the Durandal was suplexed? You’re pulling my leg.”
“I wish I was. And I wish I had seen it with my own eyes, I’m gonna ask for a recording.”
Sergio raised his eyes, and shrugged. “Well, at least this stupid war is over… but I’m afraid this crazy story isn’t.”
“After the fierce battle on the Round Table plateau ended with the complete annihilation of the Belkan Nationalist forces deployed there, and the simultaneous bombing of their main headquarters, Nationalist forces surrendered all over the Belkan territory. While some units have been reported to be still skirmishing with NATO troops, Prince Frederick of Bedwig has just entered Dinsmark and reclaimed power, marking the end of the Belkan-Japanese War. The Prince is rumored to have already started working on reinstating his government’s policies, revolving around peaceful collaboration between countries…”
Larry Foulke outstretched his arms, sitting at one of the tables of Falcon’s Nest’s bar. “Well, this is giving me food for thought. If he keeps his word, that little ace might’ve had a point.”
Foulke took out a photo from a pocket of this flight suit, and put it on the table so the Professor and Chris could see it. It showed him and a short Asian girl with black hair, wearing flight suits of the Ustio Air Force and standing in front of an old Saab J35J Draken. The girl was clutching her flight helmet over her chest, and didn’t look happy at all at being photographed.
Chris learned over the table. “This shorty is Skystreaker Two? I couldn’t tell from the portrait photos Dad had, but she’s small.”
“Well, in this photo she was barely old enough to fly, it was taken after her first sortie. Her parents were mercenary pilots like us, but had been shot down and killed a few days earlier, so she took their backup plane to provide for herself. Or so I thought, she barely talked at all.”
Foulke shook his head. “Some paperwork switch-up made us go up with her as the flight lead, but the girl was a natural. We got sent to intercept several bombers alongside their escorts, and she managed to do ace-in-a-day. And yet… When we got back, she didn’t talk about how she was already an ace, or how she had avenged her parents. ‘I am ending this war. So there won’t be any more orphans like me.’ That’s all she said.”
The Professor took up the photo. “I’m not sure the iteration of her you met back then is the same one you fought today, but what you say about her behavior matches the intel I have on her.”
“If that’s the case, they’ve still got the same mind. I normally think that having those ideals in the head while flying gets pilots killed… and yet she made it work. Twice already.”
The Professor gave him back the photo. “So, what are you going to do now?”
Foulke sighed. “If you don’t mind, I’m gonna lay low for a while. Let the dust settle, and put my thoughts in order.”
“That is alright. I don’t think I’m gonna need your services anytime soon, so staying under the radar and resting is the best course of action.”
The Professor studied his expression. Besides, Ami Tanegashima managed to sow the seeds of doubt in you. Better to not involve you further until I can ascertain if they have taken root or not.
“Your position has been cleared, Miksa,” Johnson said. “You have been confirmed as being a lawful combatant in the conflict, and the facility you fired the Reaction Warhead on was purely a military one, in fact one completely under the control of the Grey Men faction. Its destruction likely helped convince the other Belkan Nationalist forces to consider surrender.
“As for your involvement with Professor Leone’s plans, you were clearly used as a pawn and you’ve fully collaborated with us so far, so I see no problems there either.”
Hiro relaxed against his chair’s backrest. “So he’s not going to face a trial? That’s a relief…”
Miksa lowered his eyes. “Is that really alright?”
“Prosecuting you for vengeance’s sake would help no one.” Johnson crossed his arms. “Besides, the prosecutors here in Japan don’t start a trial unless they have a rock solid chance of a conviction, and the charges and evidence against you are nebulous at best.”
Johnson smiled. “Pardon me if I am taking the liberty of talking about your private lives, but I believe the two of you can finally be together.”
“So my brother is alive?” Virgilia asked as Sergio sat down on a chair in the laboratory room of Tomoeda Field’s infirmary.
“Yes, Auntie.” Kathleen crossed her arms. “And he’s up to something, I’m telling you.”
Sergio took a deep breath. “Nikki’s hunch was right, The ‘Professor’ was him after all. Looks like he’s a lot less deranged than I remembered, though.”
“And he mentioned Mom might be with him next time we meet,” Kathleen added. “He never talked about Mom, but he sounded like he was actually looking forward to having a full family reunion.”
“Maybe he’s from a timeline where things between him and Aunt Irene went differently?” Faith asked as she turned on the computer attached to her analysis machines.
Sergio offered her the flight helmet they had found inside Chris’ Draken III. “I don’t know, but I hope you can be of help understanding who this Chris is at least. She calls him ‘dad’, but I’m pretty sure my only sister is the crazy one over there.”
He pointed at Kathleen with his chin, and Faith laughed as she took the helmet from his hands just as Kathleen stuck out her tongue at him.
She set down the helmet on a table, and used a pair of tweezers to retrieve a strand of hair from it, which she put inside a test tube.
Faith inserted the test tube into the analyzer, and pushed a button on it. “I took the liberty of sequencing DNA samples of all of us as soon as you mentioned having a sample of Chris’, so as soon as the sequencing is finished we’ll know if she’s actually related to us.”
Kathleen sat on a table, dangling her legs. “How long will it take?”
“With this sampler? Just a few moments, don’t worry.” Faith smiled. “I know how impatient you are”
“Good.”
“I admit I’m feeling kinda impatient myself,” Sergio said. “I haven’t got a straight answer yet on why Chris is so obsessed with hating me, knowing anything about her would help.”
The sampler pinged, and Faith sat on the chair in front of the computer. “Let’s see… the sequencing is complete, so I can open a comparison.”
Several sequences of colored blocks appeared on the screen, and Faith leaned against her chair’s backrest. “This makes no sense.”
Sergio got up and walked over to her. “What’s not making sense?”
“Her DNA. I’m fairly certain that, from the cell nucleus’ DNA, she’s the daughter of Uncle Marcus and Aunt Irene, but there are too many things that are completely off. First of all, her mitochondrial DNA is the same as mine and Mom’s – so the same as Uncle Marcus’. But, since mitochondrial DNA is inherited from the mother, she should have had Aunt Irene’s like Kath and you.”
Faith turned towards Sergio. “On top of that, she shares almost no nuclear DNA with you. In fact, she only shares those few sequences you don’t share with any of us. It’s almost like she got the opposite DNA sequences from Uncle and Aunt compared to you.”
Kathleen blinked. “I’m not sure I understood anything at all.”
“That’s the point,” Faith said. “I’m not really understanding either. This makes no sense.”
Virgilia walked over, and leaned over her daughter’s shoulder to have a look at the diagrams. “No… It makes sense. So he really used that technique after all.”
Virgilia turned towards Sergio. “You know how you were made, right?”
“The gist of it.” Sergio shrugged. “Marcus spliced together his DNA and Irene’s, did a few other manipulations to it to make me a better fighter, and here I am.”
Virgilia ran over to the whiteboard, and drew two rough approximations of cells. She labeled one “Marco Leone,” and the other “Irene Johnson.”
“It’s a technique my brother developed as part of his university thesis, originally developed as a way of performing artificial insemination with completely sterile parents. You start with a staminal cell of each parent, from which the nuclear DNA gets extracted.”
She drew one arrow from each cell, and then drew the DNA masses again.
“The DNA of the two cells is then chemically forced to split, and recombined with each other.”
She drew two arrows converging, and two more masses of DNA.
“Telomerasis is then inducted into the resulting DNA to rejuvenate it, making it viable to be injected back into the cells and turn them into embryos.”
Sergio’s eyes darted over the whiteboard. “Embryos? Plural?”
“Plural. Combining DNA from two people this way still results in DNA for two people.”
Virgilia drew the rest of the cells around the two masses of recombined DNA, and labeled them “Sergio Turbo” and “Chris Leone.”
“As a result, only one of the offspring has the mother’s mitochondrial DNA – Chris’ DNA must’ve been inserted in what was originally my brother’s cell.”
Virgilia turned towards Sergio. “Chris is your twin sister.”
Sergio let himself fall on a chair. “So she didn’t come out of nowhere? She always existed, she’s my Madoka-damn twin sister, and I didn’t know it?”
“Her embryo could’ve been cryogenically stored until recently and then artificially aged into adulthood, but she was made the same day you were. Also, I believe she might have received the same DNA modification you did… is there something about her that resembles you, and only you?”
Kathleen crossed her arms again. “She looks nothing like him. She has Dad’s eyes, and Mom’s hair, but both Sergio and I took the opposite.”
At “eyes” something clicked in Sergio’s mind. He tapped his glasses. “She wears these too, but none of you does.”
Virgilia looked down in thought. “That’s right, you’re the only one who does, on either side of the family, from what I know. “
Faith scrolled through one of the sequences of coloured blocks. “Let’s see.. A genetic defect causing hypermetropy should be located around… here.”
She stopped the cursor over a blue block. “Blue… that’s how the program highlighted those sequences only you and Chris have. It isn’t a random mutation, it is identical between the two of you.”
“My brother must’ve accidentally introduced the defect while editing the genome,” Virgilia said. “He prepared both embryos with the same modifications, but only used one. Until now.”
Sergio took a deep breath and rubbed his temples. He didn’t know what to think anymore – just when he finally thought he had a grip on his family status, things spiraled out of control once again.
He glanced at Kathleen. “One crazy sister was more than enough.”
Chris climbed out of the water and removed her rebreather. “You know what I was thinking? You should’ve told me that he was my brother. And that I also have a sister.”
“I assumed you remembered,” her father said. “And, besides, since you’re still recovering your memories I didn’t want to jostle them too much. It might have caused psychological issues.”
“Yeah, yeah…” Chris sighed, and pulled out of the water the bag she had been carrying. A dungeon with an underwater entrance, all hidden under a museum. What kind of crazy place was that?
The third member of their group, ever the showoff, cartwheeled onto dry ground, the long, spiked braid attached to her helmet flapping in the air. She dumped her bags on the floor, taking care not to hit the two large scabbards attached to her belt.
“The place is safe,” she informed them, “except for one room full of gas I wasn’t quite able to burn out. But it’s not on the way to the objective, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Gas? Ah, it must be the Kabitus Morbante,” Professor Leone said. “The previous owner of this place, a former collaborator of mine, had… peculiar security habits. I assume he was not here?”
“Unless he is a rat, or child-sized, in which case, oops, no.”
“He wasn’t here, then. But if he was, eliminating him would’ve been the correct course of action. He would’ve been a liability.”
Speaking of rats, the ground in front of them was littered with squished rat carcasses.
Thank God I’m not squeamish.
Her father and their armored companion – Tenno, as she asked to be called – proceeded further into the dungeon, and Chris followed them. It was a dark and humid place, with stone walls and just a few torches for light. It wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Japanese RPG videogame.
Chris’ feet met something. She looked down, and found what looked like the body of a child – though it was clearly not human. Or maybe even biological – under its burned face machinery poked out.
“The hell is this thing?”
Her father walked over to her. “One of Karkon Ca’ D’Oro’s loyal little androids. With him gone, they weren’t going to live long anyways. Farewell, Alvise, but forgive me if I won’t really miss you.”
Chris glanced at Tenno, but she didn’t seem to display any emotion. Hard to tell, with the full-face helmet and all.
Tenno led them through a couple more corridors, until they reached a room that contained a large machine consisting of a large glass tube, big enough to fit a person inside, flanked by several smaller tanks and assorted piping.
Chris’ stomach churned – for some reason, the sight of what looked like a sci-fi stasis machine put her on edge. Her father walked towards the main tube, and Chris followed.
The machine turned out to be a stasis tank indeed, with a woman in her late 20s or early 30s gently floating inside. The smaller tanks, instead, seemed to be filled with swirling black particles.
“Yes, it’s her,” the Professor said. “So, perhaps you have already done an overview of her situation?”
“Who, me?” Tenno crossed her arms, pocketing the small, gold-rimmed orb she’d been juggling until then. “The whole thing looks like some sort of cryopod, and since I don’t think you’d go paying me for a body, I’d bet a nice stack of credits that she’s in cryosleep or something similar. Those things, though?” She nodded at the smaller tanks. “Well, I can shoot one and see what pops out, but somehow I think you don’t want me to.” She shrugged.
The Professor wiped the light layer of dust covering one of the tanks. “No need, I know what it is. It isn’t harmful, in fact quite the opposite, but it is highly valuable so it would be unwise to let it go to waste.”
He then proceeded to wipe off some dust from the main tank. Only then Chris noticed that the woman floating inside – her mother? – was sporting a bullet wound in the middle of her chest.
“Contrary to what you supposed, though, she is, in fact, dead. But she won’t be for long.”
“Ooh! Ooh!” Tenno sounded like she was told her birthday came early this year. “You’re doing Void nonsense! Can I watch the Void nonsense? Will there be a long speech?” She clapped her hands excitedly.
Chris raised her eyebrow. Her father seemed convinced to be able to resurrect the dead, and their armored friend still kept switching between “professional killing machine” and “over excited grade schooler.” Which one was crazier, she didn’t know.
“Well, what I will be using I’m afraid is not a technique involving the Void,” the Professor admitted. “But I might be both God and the Devil, since I’m trying to raise the dead against the stream of time.”
Tenno tilted her head, then straightened up, holding her hands at the small of her back. “Look at them!” she exclaimed, “they come to this place knowing they are not pure. Tenno use the keys, but they are mere trespassers. Only I, Vor—”
“Will the two of you stop acting like drama queens?” Chris shouted in exasperation. “I’m here, I just discovered my mother is dead and pickled, I have siblings I didn’t know of and I even had to fight them, I got maybe ten percent of my memories working, I still think Dad’s ‘Dream’ is a load of idiocy, and now you even start having weird speeches?”
The Professor chuckled. “You should try having fun every once in a while too, Chris. Sometimes, being the crazy scientist is simply the fun thing to do.”
“Chris, Chris please,” Tenno added. “Didn’t anybody tell you that if you never smile, you’re going to end up with uncle Teshin’s permanent frowning face?” She giggled.
“It would be easier to have fun if I wasn’t tossed into one mess after another. Can we just, y’know, go to Disneyland or something once Mom is alive again?”
Irene rang Virgilia’s doorbell, her other hand holding her daughter’s.
“I’m really going to sleep at Auntie’s house?” Caterina squeaked, clearly overjoyed at the idea of being able to play with her cousin for days.
“Yes. It’s going to be fun, isn’t it?”
Caterina hummed happily, and Irene tried to smile, but it was hard. She knew it was not going to be mere days.
It could be weeks, or months, or years before she would return. Maybe she would never return.
The door opened, and for a second Irene saw a grave expression on Virgilia’s face.
“Hi, Caterina,” Virgilia said. Her smile, Irene was sure, looked more genuine than hers. “Federica is in her room, want to go play with her?”
“Yes!” Caterina shouted, her hand slipping out of Irene’s as she ran in. It was a good thing she was just four years old – she wasn’t going to suspect anything.
Virgilia followed her with her eyes for a few seconds, then turned towards Irene. “Want to come in?”
“No, I’ll be leaving soon. You… know, right?”
Virgilia nodded slowly. “Yes, Marco told me. So you’re…”
“CIA. They wanted dibs on his research, and I… was the one who was to get it to them. But, believe me or not, I fell in love.”
“If you faked it, you’re a very good actress.”
“Believe me, I am not. They only chose me because I am actually good with genetics… I’m even using my real name because I cannot remember a fake one.”
Irene clenched her fists. “I messed up. I messed up everything. I wanted to ditch the CIA, fuck their spying on their own allies. But just as I decided to come clean with Marco, someone brought him the news of my affiliation before I could. He’s mad, and he’s right.”
Virgilia gave a single nod. She wasn’t trusting her fully, Irene could read it in her eyes.
“So, what are you going to do now? Go back to the CIA?”
“No… my cover is breached. They cannot admit they were spying on an allied country, it would cause a diplomatic incident. I’m burned, and badly.. I need to disappear for a while, before they make me disappear.”
Irene pulled up the hood of her raincloak. “Please take care of Katie, at least until Marco calms down. I’ll try to come back one day, but it will be a long time until then… maybe I never will. If that’s the case, tell Katie and Marco I’m sorry, and that I really loved them. That’s the only truth in my ocean of lies.”
“Shit!” Irene shouted as she realized she had taken a wrong turn. The shelves of the warehouse formed a dead end, rows of crates and boxes blocked any chance of crawling through.
“End of the line, Agent Johnson.”
She turned around, finding herself facing her direct superior. And he was already aiming his gun at her.
“Coggins, please…” Irene pleaded. “I know we cannot leave evidence, but spare me. Not for myself, for my father. And for my daughter.”
“Trust me, I hate having to do this,” Coggins said. “I owe my life to your father. But you’re a walking diplomatic incident waiting to happen. And you seem to have forgotten the oath you made. The oath to our country.”
Irene took a step back, but her back met one of the shelves. She shook her head no without breaking eye contact, her heart beating like crazy in her ears.
“You said it yourself… you owe your life to my father,” Irene said, trying to convince him. “Wouldn’t sparing me be the way to repay him? I promise I’ll stay quiet about this entire mess.”
“It doesn’t work that way, Johnson. Contrary to you, I know that the interests of our country are above personal matters.”
Coggins fired, and Irene felt an unbearable pain in the middle of her chest. Suddenly, her heart stopped making itself heard in her ears, and everything went black just as her knees gave out.
As she lost consciousness, Irene couldn’t help but hate herself for not having even kissed Caterina goodbye properly.
Irene opened her eyes. She was… alive? However, she was boxed up in what looked like a giant tube filled with a pale green liquid.
She tried to scream, but her lungs were filled with the weird substance as well.
“Dad!” someone screamed out of her tube. A young, female voice.
“Irene!” This time, it was a voice she recognized. Marco…?
“Hello new person!” the last, cheery voice sounded like it belonged to an even younger girl.
Someone walked over to the tube, and Irene punched the glass.
“Calm down, you’re safe,” Marco said, putting his hands on the glass where Irene’s were. “This is oxygenated stasis fluid, you can breathe it.”
Oxygenated… stasis fluid?
She looked down at her chest, but found no wound.
“Don’t worry, your wound has fully healed.”
But… I shouldn’t have been able to survive that. And… you saved me? After what I did to you?
While the liquid prevented her eyes from properly focusing, Irene could still make out that Marco had just sat in a chair.
“Dad, are you alright?”
Dad?… is that Katie? She sounds like a young adult. How long was I out…?
Another person, wearing what to her fuzzy sight looked like a knight’s armor, walked into her field of view, waving enthusiastically.
Irene recoiled back a bit.
“Don’t worry, she’s a friend,” Marco said. “Welcome back to the land of the living, Irene.”
The Belkan-Japanese War might be over, but as you can guess the Unraveled World has many more stories to tell. With Professor Marco “Marcus” Leone still out there chasing his dream, it won’t be long before the Skystreakers will see action again. However, the next chapter of The World Without Authors will actually be somewhat unrelated – since will be posting them based on the in-universe sequence of events, next chapters will be actually from the Cyber Circuits arc, which is the one focusing on Keiko’s Cyber Formula shenanigans. I hope you enjoyed the first arc, and that you’ll keep following the new ones!
Yes, yours truly had another silly idea of his. While I’m not partecipating in the Badfic Fest on the Board as a “badfic author”, I am doign a bit of reading and commenting on other people’s works, and MelTheMel’s usage of Gacha Studio to make an animated PPC badfic gave me the idea to use the same app to make short comedic comics involving my characters. Here’s the first, prototype one, which uses a scene of The World Without Authors as its base. If I make new ones, though, they will be new stories completely.
So… Was it fun, or was it a disaster? These little things don’t take much time to make, so don’t worry: I’m not taking much time off my bigger projects. But they’re fun to make, and I hope also to read.
Having fully introduced them in the last chapter, I think it is the right time to make a proper specs article for Strike Dove’s own modifications of the VF-31 Kairos and VF-25 Messiah. Corolla being Corolla, the base configurations were quite altered to better suit the needs of Skystreaker and Razgriz squadrons, and to answer the different challenges of the Belkan-Japanese War compared to those of the Macross universe.
SF-32 Galahad
Derived from the Surya-LAI VF-31A Kairos, the CorollaWorks SF-32 Galahad is the variant developed for Skystreaker Squadron, hybridizing the Macross universe design with tecnology from the Ace Combat, Project Wingman, Gundam and Muv-Luv ones… and perhaps more, considering some of the spare parts are made by Sugo Grand Prix of Future GPX Cyber Formula, and Corolla has basically called in help from girl tech geniuses from other universes. Let’s have a more deep look at it, shall we?
Yes, I kitbashed a scale model of it for reference (Please forgive my terrible painting skills). The base is, of course, a 1/72 scale kit of the VF-31A Kairos, with a few additions from my parts bin. As you can guess by the livery, the one I depicted is Sergio’s SF-32S squadron leader variant, but most of the other variants are visually almost identical. Oh, and before you ask, yes. Those in the cockpit are Sergio in his flight suit, and Nikki in her Barrier jacket. The variants mostly differ in avionics and loadout preferences of the pilots, as each of the Skystreakers has a very different background and fighting style. I wanted to follow Ace Combat Zero‘s references to Arthurian legend, so the name, Galahad, comes from one of the three knights of the Grail. Born through deception (as Lancelot was tricked into believing Elaine of Corbenic was his mistress Guinevere), he nevertheless grew up into a gallant and pure knight. I found the story of Galahad being somewhat reminishing of the backstory of the pilots of Skystreaker Squadron: they may have sordid origins (badfics, or in Ai’s case an H-game), but they are fighting the good fight with determination. Particularly fitting in Sergio’s case, as he too was “conceived” through unfair means. Marcus never bothered looking for Irene and asking whether he could use her DNA or not, after all. The alphanumerical designation simply takes the following number to the VF-31’s as an attempt by Corolla to claim it is a completely different aircraft now, while “SF” stands for “Space Fighter” to reflect the Galahad’s ability to operate outside Earth’s atmosphere.
Performance
The Galahad features Minotaur Drive Turbines, a derivative of Corolla’s Minotaur Drive, as the propulsion system. These work very similarly to the thermonuclear turbines used by canon Variable Fighters, with the fusion reaction providing electricity and enough heat to overheat and “burn” intake air into plasma, resulting in thrust. However, the GN Tau drives nested into the Minoutaur Drive part of the engines provides additional thrust in the form of GN particles, resulting in better acceleration than the original Kairos and increased power output for other systems.
This in turn lets the Inertia Storage System and the Energy Conversion Armor work more effectively, allowing for a slight increase in both mobility and defense. They don’t make the Galahad untouchable, but the ECA proved its worth when Ami’s Galahad managed to tank the catastrophic failure of the Lil Draken’s Cordium engine at somewhat close range.
The overall performance increases though, despite Corolla’s claims, are actually fairly marginal over the VF-31.
Loadout
The Galahad is a very heavily armed Variable Fighter, and to those who watched Macross Delta it may come across as ridicolously overarmed compared to the Vf-31 Siegfried of Delta Flight. However, keep in mind that the Siegfrieds actually have a reduced loadout compared to the base model, the VF-31A Kairos, as it was meant as an escort to the Walkure special sound unit, and thus carried support equipment for them in place of many of the Kairos’ ordinance and lower caliber machineguns. The Galahad, thus, is the special forces soldier when the Kairos is the regular troop and the Siegfried is more of a riot police officer.
On the centerline, attached to the multipurpose container, we have the main gunpod. In the case of the SF-32S pictured, we have the GPU-36/A gunpod, a mix-and-match of technologies from several different universes. It takes the “casing” of the VF-31’s beam gunpod, but with additional optic sensors derived from those of mecha rifles of the Gundam universes, and inside it has been fitted with a derivative of the real world GAU-13/A gattling cannon, upscaled and modified to fire the 36mm caseless round from the Muv-Luv universe.
Most Galahads share the LM-27 27mm railgun mini-gunpods (near the wing root in fighter mode, on the “wrists” in GERWALK and Battroid modes) with the Kairos, whereas Delta Flight’s Siegfried has the lower caliber LM-25 (25mm) as they mainly perform non-lethal takedowns of berserk friendly units and so have to “control” the amount of damage they inflict to them. Nikki’s SF-32N will, in fact, also be fitted with the lower caliber ones for a similar reason, as she hopes to get enemy fighters to retreat, or at least give the enemy pilot a better chance to eject, instead of destroying them outright.
Then we have the wing hardpoints. The VF-31 is canonically equipped with them, but they don’t see much use in canon. In fact, while the hardpoints were indeed molded in the plastic of the kit, it didn’t come with pylons so I had to repurpose those coming from another kit! And, curiously, the Kairos seems to actually lack those under the outer wing section the Siegfried has, despite the fact the Siegfried’s wing shape is less suited to hardpoint loading than the Kairos’. The Galahad has its own outer wing section design as well, as it lacks the Kairos’ slight taper on the outer edge to allow missile rails to be fitted, and features the underwing hardpoint like the Siegfried’s.
The model features, coherently with the crew featured, the loadout Sergio’s plane had during the assault on Stier Castle: multi-launch missiles on the inner wing section (so they remain useable in mecha modes), guided bombs on the outer wing section, and standard missiles on the wingtips.
On the engine nacelles we have ports for the micromissile launch tubes. They’re six in total, each containing six micromissiles for a total of thirty-six in Macross canon, though it is likely Ace Combat tech has been employed on the Galahad to stock a few more.
The head turret design is unique to the Galahad as well, as its laser cannons actually sit flush in the fuselage when not in use. The engine nacelles, which become the legs in mecha modes, also contain a large internal bay in the upper side. This is another part in which the Galahad, like the Kairos, is more heavily armed than the Siegfried: while the latter stores support drones there, the Galahad usually has launch racks for additional micromissiles like the Kairos does (18 missiles per bay, 36 total. Ace Combat tech may grant additional “reloads.”)
Due to the wildly different fighting styles and peculiar abilities of the regular Skystreaker pilots, each Galahad is usually personalized for its pilot. As such, I’m putting here an example list with the four main Skystreaker pilots, and a generic “base” loadout.
Bifors CIMM-3B Micro-missile launchers with 36 micro-missiles.
Bifors CIMM-3B Micro-missile launchers with 36 micro-missiles.
Bifors CIMM-3B Micro-missile launchers with 36 micro-missiles.
High mobility pack
Bifors CIMM-3B Micro-missile launchers with 36 micro-missiles.
SF-26A Blaze
Corolla’s overhaul of the Shinsei-LAI VF-25 Messiah, the CorollaWorks SF-26A Blaze has been designed with Razgriz Squadron in mind. Since their tactics are much different, as they are much more experienced than the Skystreakers as fighter pilots but have no infantry combat experience, the Blaze focuses more on the fighter mode performance.
As such, the VF-25’s shield, located in fighter mode between the engines, has been replaced with a smaller version of the multipurpose container to provide internal carrying capacity for two standard missile rails and a micro-missile rack. Contrary to the Galahad and its specialized subvariants, all Blazes have been made in a single A variant as, choices of special weapons aside, the Razgriz have a more uniform combat style and put more emphasis on working as a single unit which requires aircraft performance to be consistent across the squadron.
The other modifications are mostly internal, with the Blaze sharing the Minotaur Drive Turbines (and the resulting benefits) with the Galahad. Many of the internal parts of the two aircraft, which derive from designs from competing firms (Shinsei and Surya), have been redesigned by Corolla to be interchangeable to ease maintenance, as well.
The Blaze has been named after Razgriz Squadron’s original flight leader (and player character of Ace Combat 5), who didn’t made it through the Unravel.
I have not made a model of the SF-26A myself, but a Korean modeler going by qufdmlans made a very nicely done VF-25 in Razgriz livery, so you can check out here a very good approximation of what Razgriz Squadron’s new aircraft looks like.
Here we are, 19th chapter. This has been a bit of a complex chapter to write, for reasons you’ll understand reading, but I hope it will be of your liking! As usual, many thanks to Doctorlit for betaing this chapter.
Mission Record 19 – Crowns
Sergio walked towards the Wolfram’s hangar. “So… you’re completely sure about this?”
Nikki nodded. “Of course. I’ll set up Vanguard in stun mode, and besides I think I’ll be mostly providing shielding spells. I know Corolla’s the master of those, but I’m sure we can use some more.”
“Of course. Shields are never enough, especially since it’s the Grey Men’s loyals we’ll be dealing with. Still… The others and I will be making some kills for sure.”
Nikki nodded again, this time slowly. “I know. But those are the true instigators of this war, and if we succeed we’ll save many more on both sides. Taking out a few baddies to save thousands of innocents… that’s an equation I can get behind.”
They reached the hangar, and Sergio looked around for Corolla. “Good to hear, I’m more comfortable with you coming with us now. It’s a shame you’ll have to backseat, though.”
Corolla jumped down from one of the aircraft and ran towards them. “I’m taking responsibility for this. We ran out of working thermonuclear turbine engines for Kairos 026, and I couldn’t make more Minotaur Drive Turbines in time. Still, I took the liberty of adding a couple finishing touches to Sergio’s plane for Nikki to play with. I also put the beam saber I’ve built in the left knife bay, but the best thing I need you to see with your own eyes!”
Sergio and Nikki exchanged a glance, and then followed Corolla to the relevant aircraft. She tapped a few instructions in a holographic window, and the head turret of the SF-32S emerged from the dorsal fuselage, facing backwards.
“The backseater can now control the head turret, which can pop out and engage anything around and above. With four laser cannons, the Belkans should think twice before trying to give chase.”
“So I can watch Sergio’s back with it?” Nikki asked. “I couldn’t ask for anything better!”
“And that will be a great help indeed. I will be able to focus on what’s in front that way.”
Corolla put her fists against her sides. “I knew you would like it! I’ve also made sure to add a full set of controls to the back seat so-”
“Sorry if I interrupt your new tech show, but we’re actually here to remind you that we’ll be landing soon,” Sergio said. “You should go and change into-”
Corolla’s overalls glowed, and were replaced by her dress uniform. She straightened her tie and smiled. “Done.”
***
“There was no need, really. The sleeping quarters on the Wolfram are quite comfortable,” Nikki said as Princess Tsubasa led the members of Skystreaker Squadron through a corridor of the royal palace.
“But it wouldn’t have been nice on our part, you’re still family!” Tsubasa rebutted. “So you’ll be our guests.”
Ai couldn’t help but find the situation uncanny. The princess was, of course, Nikki’s spitting image, but with Sakura’s shorter and lighter hair. But if there was something they didn’t share, it was the voice.
Princess Tsubasa didn’t sound like Nikki or Hanami at all. In fact, while Sakura had a different voice from her sisters, the princess didn’t sound like her either. She sounded like Ami, despite having no reason to.
Ai leaned towards Corolla, hiding her mouth with her hand. “Uhm… Is it me, or the princess’ voice…”
“It’s like Ami’s, right? Well, Ami sounds a lot like Yui Makino, and you get only one guess on who Princess Tsubasa’s voice actress was. For the record, Sakura had a different one, Sakura Tange, while Nikki and Hanami sound more like the Italian dub actress, Renata Bertolas.”
Ai blinked. “That… doesn’t really make sense to me. And why does Ami sound like this Yui Makino actress then?”
Corolla shrugged. “Well, I think we can ask Gino. But I guess he just found her voice fitting.”
“Alright, we came up with the operation plan together, but I believe we can use a last-minute briefing as a refresher,” Johnson said as he stood in the middle of the Wolfram’s hangar, the three squadrons fully assembled in front of him.
“I also worked out the last details with King Fujitaka of Clow, who is fully supporting our off-the-records operation. On paper, the Wolfram and its fighter complement will be doing an air patrol in an area near a quiet sector of the frontline. This is where Haro Squadron comes in, as they’ll actually perform said patrol as a diversion. Of course, you’re not supposed to stray too far off the Wolfram as your main objective is to keep the ship safe for Skystreaker and Razgriz’ return.
“Those two squadrons will be our actual attack force. Thanks to the active stealth and high-mach supercruise ability of the SF-26 Blaze and SF-32 Galahad, they will penetrate deep into Belkan territory and reach Stier Castle. As it is located in the Waldreich Mountains on the border between North and South Belka, keeping a low profile will be a priority so stay on the designated route unless you find Belkan air activity on it. This is why we’re not performing a ballistic insertion – Belkan radars would pick you up in no time, as the re-entry plasma would render active stealth ineffective.
“Once arrived at the target location, the priority target is any kind of communication equipment – cutting their comms will prevent them from calling reinforcements and will give you more time to perform the mission and exfiltrate before the entire Belkan Air Force heads there.”
A holographic window opened next to him, showing a satellite image of the castle and its immediate surroundings.
“Once having cleared the area surrounding the castle of hostiles, Skystreaker Squadron will land and disembark alongside PPC Agents Knight and Li. Razgriz Squadron will cover the outside while they penetrate the castle to search for the VIPs – Prince Frederick of Bedwig and Captain Dandy. We have virtually no information on the castle layout and VIP location, so the mages of Skystreaker Squadron will have to perform the Area Search spell to gain the necessary intel on-site.
“The rescued VIPs will be carried by two of the Razgriz Squadron aircraft. As soon as everyone is back on-board, the two squadrons will immediately head back towards the Wolfram, with Skystreaker Squadron joining up with the Wolfram and Haro Squadron to form a defense line while Razgriz Squadron proceeds straight towards Clow Kingdom’s royal palace. As we’re unable to provide space-grade flight suits for the VIPs, a ballistic trajectory won’t be possible for the return either so, depending on whether the BAF woke up or not, the alternatives will be either backtracking the low-intercept route if undetected, or just gun it full throttle if enemy reinforcements are incoming. The Blaze and the Galahad are both way faster than any known Belkan aircraft, so they won’t be able to keep up.
“It will be a difficult mission, but I’m confident all of you can accomplish it and come back safely. Operation Birthday Party Invitation will be in two hours from now, to take advantage of the night, so I’ll leave you to prepare.”
Alvin raised an eyebrow. “Birthday Party Invitation? That’s an unusual name.”
“Oh, well, tomorrow happens to be Captain Turbo’s birthday!” Corolla said. “Everyone involved is invited to his party, so no one is allowed to die!”
***
Sergio inserted his ARX-160 assault rifle in the Galahad’s cockpit holster. With a regular ejection seat in place of the Ex-Gear, there was a surprising amount of space to store the ground combat gear. He turned on the avionics and started the pre-flight checklist.
“Oh, I just remembered,” Nikki said from the rear seat. “Today’s Nina’s birthday, isn’t it? The day before yours.”
Sergio thought it up. “Oh, right. Hers is on the 26th, which is today.”
“I wonder if she made it to this world, too…”
“No idea. I tried calling all the numbers I had of our old friends, including her cellphone and that of Villa Espasia. Pretty much the only one who answered was Shinichi, but it means nothing. The others might be somewhere with no signal, or might have had to get new numbers.”
“Yeah,” Nikki agreed. “Besides, we already got so many people back… It would be unfair to expect everyone we lost to be here in this world waiting for us, isn’t it?”
“That is true. And, either way, ending this war is the first step if we want to try looking for them. Ready?”
“Always.”
Sergio flicked the last switches, and pushed the radio button. “Skystreaker One to Wolfram, we are ready for takeoff.”
***
“Haro Four, you’ll be on my wing,” Hiro said over the radio. “You’re on your first sortie, so if you don’t mind I want to keep you closer in case you have troubles.”
“Haro Four, roger,” Kathleen answered. “But don’t worry about me too much, I can handle this no problem.”
She frowned as she moved the Wave Gundam to the Destiny Gundam’s side. Why do we have to say “Roger” instead of “yes”? And who the hell is this Roger anyway? Military language is so stupid.
“Haro Two, Three and Skystreaker Five will be the other element. You all did well at Sand Island, so I’m not too worried, but still take care.”
“Haro Two here. Leave it to us,” Keiko said.
“Wolfram to all aircraft. Deployment is complete, all aircraft proceed to your assigned zones.”
“Haro, roger.”
“Razgriz, roger.”
“Skystreaker, roger.”
Kathleen glanced at Sergio’s plane as it accelerated in the distance. “Good luck, lil’ bro.”
***
“Skystreaker Three to all aircraft, we’re nearing Waypoint Two. We’re going to meet some magnetic interference soon – it’s centered on the apocalypsed overgrown city we’re going to fly over. Might make comms a bit garbled but that’s it.”
“Roger that,” Sergio said. “That’s exactly why we’re crossing the frontline here – it’s a sector both sides avoid, most other vehicles aren’t as EMP-proof as these. From now on, let’s keep Mach four point six constant and radio silence.”
He glanced at the mach counter. Seriously, this thing puts the freaking SR-71 Blackbird to shame.
“These new planes are much faster than the ones we used to have, aren’t they? The Kairos was already incredible,” Nikki said through the intercom.
“For sure. I heard the VF-25s and VF-31s impressed into NATO service are pretty much untouchable by anything the Belkans are trying to throw at them. We gained more ground in one week than in the previous month.” Sergio smiled. “And we’ve got Corolla’s specials here.”
***
“Haro Two to Wolfram,” Keiko said over the radio. “Nothing to report, airspace is clear.”
“Understood, Haro Two. Continue with your patrol.”
Keiko relaxed in her seat. So far, so good. My first experience as an element leader could be much worse… no, wait, don’t tempt the Ironic Overpower like that.
“This is so boring!” Kathleen shouted. “We’re just flying in circles!”
Keiko resisted the urge to facepalm. “Lowroar, don’t jinx it.”
“Skystreaker One, breaking radio silence. We’re on the target area, commence the attack.”
“Skystreaker Three, roger! Working on providing target data!”
Ami flipped the Master Arm switch just as the radar dish on Corolla’s Galahad unfolded from between the engines. Several HUD squares appeared all over the castle, and she singled out those of the communication towers.
“Comet, engaging!” Ami shouted as she fired two long-range air to ground missiles at the towers in quick succession.
“Nice shot, Ami!” Corolla congratulated her. “Those were their main antennas. I’m gonna put some jamming on, but that already cut them off from long range comms. Okay, I’ve distributed the targets for a saturation attack. Give them one hell of a wakeup call!”
Ami switched over to the micromissiles and fired at her newly designated targets.The sky in front of her was briefly drowned out by the contrails as both squadrons fired a full burst.
Many of the targeting squares disappeared as the anti-air installations of Stier Castle were decimated.
Prince Frederick ran to the window. The explosions shaking the castle had woken him up in the middle of the night, and to his surprise he saw what amounted to a full-blown battle outside the castle, jets and mechas zipping around in the sky chasing each other.
His attention was caught by a jet of a model he didn’t recognize, which the searchlights of the castle were doing their best to chase. It was light gray with red trim, and to his surprise it transformed into a mecha mid-flight to fire on a Berkut with its handheld machine gun.
Another Berkut closed in from behind, only to be obliterated by what looked like a small laser turret on the mysterious Variable Fighter’s upper fuselage.
See? I knew they would come eventually, Captain Dandy “said”.
The Variable Fighter fired a couple missiles from its arms, then accelerated out of the searchlights’ cones, transforming back into fighter mode at the same time.
“Light gray with red trim, a white bird insignia… So that would be the infamous Mongoose.”
Considering how scared the soldiers sound right now, I indeed believe he is.
“Razgriz? I’m more worried about the fucking Mongoose!”
“They came outta nowhere, the same exact way they did with Project Hephaestus!”
Nikki blasted a Flapper off Sergio’s tail with a long laser burst. “It sounds like chaos down there.”
“Doesn’t surprise me. We’re two thousand kilometers off the front line, and right in the middle of Belka. Those guys were meant to keep the prince in, not to keep us out. We caught them by complete surprise.”
Sergio banked and dived. “I’m going with guided bombs for a couple tanks, so I’d appreciate it if you keep up the rear gunning.”
“You don’t even have to ask.”
The Galahad pulled up after a few seconds, and Nikki heard the explosions.
“Lightning here, I took down two tanks that were rushing back to the castle. I don’t think they can have many more around.”
Nikki took a deep breath. I’m sorry for them, but they signed up for it after all. They betrayed their own country and waged war to another for some stupid power game.
“Swordsman to Lightning, we’ve cleared the castle’s keep from the last Zakus. The landing zone is safe.”
The Galahad turned to GERWALK mode, and Nikki summoned her Device and Barrier Jacket.
“Archer and I will keep them pinned,” Alvin said. “Go, go, go!”
Sergio’s Galahad landed between Corolla’s and Ami’s, and the canopy opened. Nikki lost no time and cast Round Shield to protect the opening. She unfastened her seatbelt and jumped down with Sergio, the crew of the other two aircraft joining them.
Light blue shields, likely Corolla’s, sprung out around them while they readied their weapons.
“Okay, we’re set,” Sergio said. “Corolla, I’ll leave the Area Search to you. Ami, Arumi, Syaoron, weapons… or energy blasts, or claws free.”
He shot a wary glance at Syaoron, and Nikki could see why. Apparently, Syaoron had the ability to turn into what was basically a green palette swap of Spinel Sun’s full-sized Guardian form – a green winged panther with armor over his head and chest.
“Don’t worry, I’m still me,” Syaoron said, his voice just a bit deeper. “I’m just in a big kitty cat body, as Arumi says.”
“Good to hear. Nikki, I need you in front with me, flashbangs will be useful. I’ll take point, and your Round Shield spell is quite tough. I know you don’t have many ranged options now, but if any hostiles gets too close feel free to swat them away.”
Nikki activated Vanguard’s energy blade. “Of course.”
***
Prince Frederick stared in disbelief at the small glowing orb floating in front of him. “And what would this be?”
That is an Area Search orb. It’s a location spell from the Lyrical Nanoha continuum, Captain Dandy explained. Judging by the color, it should be Agent Corolla’s. She was in DoSAT as of the Unravel, but she used to be one of Agent Turbo’s partners.
***
“Got them!” Corolla shouted over the sound of gunfire. “Floor above us, they’re in a room on the southern side.”
“Good. Find us a route,” Sergio said as he fired on a Belkan soldier. “The sooner we’re done with this, the better.”
Arumi let out a long burst of automatic fire from the two assault rifles she had commandeered from fallen Belkans. “Kinda nostalgic, isn’t it, Kiddo? It feels like those times we kicked the DIS’ ass.”
Syaoron flung some green mana orbs down the corridor. “I could’ve given those a miss.”
***
“It’s slowing down! Nice shot, Thunderbolt!” Keiko shouted as she finally started to gain on the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance plane they were trying to intercept. In spite of the darkness, Keiko could see that the smoke trail of one of the engines was much more dense than the other’s – Hajime’s laser burst had damaged it.
“Thanks! What do we do now? We can’t shoot it down, it’s defenseless. We should make him land.”
Keiko nodded as she formed up on the Blackbird’s side. Up close, the sleek black aircraft was huge – it was almost twice as long as the Phoenix was. “Agreed. Mermaid, can you do the honors? I think you’re the one most experienced with bureaucracy here.”
“Of course! Belkan aircraft, this is Haro Squadron of Strike Dove Incorporated, on contract for the Clow Kingdom. You’ve been caught conducting espionage operations over territory under the Clow Kingdom’s control, so we’re asking you to follow us and land at the nearest NATO-controlled airfield. You will be treated according to international war prisoner laws. Failure to comply will mean we will be authorized to shoot you down. Do you understand?”
There was a staticky sigh over the open radio channel. “Yes, I understand. Lead the way.”
Keiko couldn’t help but smile. First sortie in which she, Hajime and Ai were on their own, and they had already caught a big turkey.
***
“Don’t let them through!”
“How? They even got a fucking panther!”
That would be Agent Li, I’m sure, Captain Dandy said in response to the Prince’s raised eyebrow.
The sound of gunfire died down, and someone knocked at the door. “Boss? It’s me. If you stand back, we’re getting rid of the door.”
Agent Knight. Better late than never, I guess.
A white energy blade poked through the door, and cut out the handle and lock.
I see Agent Cherryflower is there too.
Prince Frederick could do nothing but stare as the lock fell out and the door opened. His rescue party apparently included two magical girls, a fairy, and a green panther. The only one looking somewhat normal was the lone guy of the group – the woman dual wielding assault rifles had glowing eyes.
Royal etiquette be damned, as soon as he was safe he would ask his saviors for some strong alcohol.
***
“I thought we didn’t have any sortie today?” Chris asked as she saw Shilage put his flight helmet on.
“Emergency assignment. I’ll be going alone, as well.”
Chris raised an eyebrow. “I thought we were a squadron?”
“We are. But, unfortunately, only the new aircraft model is fast enough, and the other airframes aren’t ready yet.”
Shilage walked towards his aircraft, and Chris followed him. The ground crew was already preparing the Variable Fighter for sortie, and Shilage lost no time in reaching the ladder.
“I’ll be up against several aces today,” he said as he was halfway up the ladder. “I don’t think they’ll be too much trouble, but if I don’t return you’ll take the Sol One position.”
Chris couldn’t believe her ears. “Me? Why?”
It was also the first time Shilage wasn’t fully sure of himself. It was a bad sign – and one that filled Chris with dread. She had grown to respect the old man.
“You aren’t chasing a ghost but an actual ace, for starters.”
***
“Joining in the fight as well?” Sergio asked as he noticed Captain Dandy picking up a rifle with his tendrils.
Of course. It is already embarrassing enough for the leader of HQ’s protectors to have been made a prisoner. Helping the rescue effort is the least I can do.
Sergio let out a short laugh. “Fine by me. Those guys aren’t relenting yet.”
“Next up is the entrance hall,” Corolla said as she repositioned her shields to intercept some bullets. Green and purple energy orbs shot off, silencing the gunfire.
“We’re almost out then,” Sergio said as he walked past the bodies of downed soldiers towards the open door. “Starlight, flashbang.”
“On it!” Nikki said as she threw the grenade into the doorway. There was a bright flash and a loud detonation, and the group proceeded further. Down the stairway and all around the balcony there were more soldiers, most dazzled by the flashbang.
“Hostiles on the balcony and stairs!” Sergio shouted as he opened fire again. He hit a couple soldiers on the stairway, with more being taken down by Ami and Syaoron’s energy blasts. The balcony was hit by a hail of bullets, mostly courtesy of Arumi.
“The way out is clear!” Corolla shouted.
“Let’s make a break for it then! Skystreaker to Razgriz, we’re coming out!”
“Roger that,” Snow said. “Edge and I will land to pick up the packages while Chopper and Archer provide cover fire.”
Sergio reloaded his gun and ran towards the main doors backwards, laying down some bursts as cover fire as the group headed out.
We’re almost done here.
***
“What do you mean, Shilage is going out on a sortie alone? I know nothing about this.”
Chris crossed her arms. “I don’t know much, but apparently there’s some kind of assault on Stier Castle. Strike Dove.”
The Professor rubbed his chin. “Stier Castle… isn’t the Prince held there?”
Chris shrugged. “Who knows? Who cares?”
She raised an eyebrow as her father let out a short laugh. “What is it?”
“Those clever kids… They’re planning to end this war, and I dare say they probably will.”
The Professor got up from his chair. “Well, I’m going to let Weisse have a piece of my mind.”
“And what about me? Aren’t we going to help the old guy?”
“With your Sv-51, by the time you’ll be there the battle will already be over. We can only do damage control. Get the Mirage prepared, we’re leaving it at Falcon’s Nest.”
Chris raised her eyebrow again. “There? Why?”
“Insurance. Our time with the Belkan forces might be over soon.”
Sergio dove down a valley, and a city appeared in front of him. The first lights of dawn were enough for him to have a look at its appearance: tall skyscrapers in ruins, with plants sprouting out of them. There was no doubt, it had been abandoned well before the Unravel.
“Waypoint Two. Looks like we have made it back to our lines safely.”
“It’s not like they could’ve chased us down!” Corolla’s voice was a bit staticky, but still perfectly intelligible. “The Belkans have nothing that can keep up with the Galahads and Blazes!”
“That might be true,” Snow said, “but not letting our guard down was still-”
There was a blue twinkle in the distance. What’s that?
The twinkle disappeared, and something passed just a few meters from Sergio’s Galahad, leaving a crackling sound and circular ripples in the air.
“Madoka-damnit, Corolla, you jinxed it!” Sergio shouted. “What the hell was that?”
“An EML shot?” Ami wondered. “When did the Belkans get railguns?”
“A miss,” someone else interjected, his voice more staticky than the others. “But a lucky shot would’ve been boring.”
Sergio’s blood froze as he recognized the voice. Shilage?
“That’s Mister X!” Snow shouted. “He must’ve been using the magnetic interference to hide from radar!”
“I have him on mine just now,” Corolla said. “He seems alone, but there’s something off about his plane. It’s not a Flanker or Flapper for sure.”
Sergio gritted his teeth. Just what we needed, Shilage with a new toy. “Razgriz, the packages take priority. Bring them to safety. Skystreaker will pin him here.”
“Razgriz One to Skystreaker One, are you sure?”
“It’s the only way. Besides…” Sergio took a deep breath. “He goes after the aces that catch his attention, and I put some salt on his tail at the refinery. He’s after me, I know it. Better take advantage of that.”
“Razgriz, roger. Be careful.”
“You too.” Sergio gripped the Galahad’s control tightly. “Starlight, Comet, Robogirl, I’ll need your help with this one.”
“Of course.” Nikki said. “That’s why I’m here.”
“Comet here, I’ll support you in any way I can!”
“That bounty will be ours today!” Corolla shouted. “Let’s take him down!”
***
The Professor entered the Durandal’s bridge and marched straight towards Commander Weisse.
“Commander? You’ve ordered Shilage to sortie without consulting me first. I think you owe me an explanation.”
Weisse didn’t bother to turn towards him. “I have orders I cannot refuse, Professor. There was an attack at Stier Castle – White Birds and Demons of Razgriz. They took a VIP that must not be taken away, and the complete Project Vortigern airframe was the only aircraft that could intercept them in time. That is all.”
The Professor narrowed his eyes. “That is not our problem. As per the terms of our contract, any Sol Squadron operation has to be scrutinized by me first.”
Strike Dove is doing a deep strike mission to free the Prince and take away any footing the Grey Men have in ruling the country. I wonder how they got the intel… but it was to be expected they eventually would.
“I’ll make sure you will be compensated for this. Money isn’t going to be an issue, the fate of the country is at stake.”
“That is not a matter of money. But I admit I am curious about the way you expect Shilage to intercept them.”
Weisse pointed at the holographic screen in front of him. “He already did. Thirty minutes ago, one of our Blackbirds was intercepted in this area, but before being captured it got a glimpse of Strike Dove’s aerial carrier. All I had to do was send Shilage to wait for them on their way back.”
The Professor rubbed his chin. There were seven enemy aircraft signatures, and Shilage was alone. Those didn’t look like good odds for him, even with the experimental airframe.
Four signatures kept moving towards the border, while Shilage seemed to be locked in a dogfight with the other three. “I’m afraid our VIP is getting away. How do you plan to perform a recovery past the border?”
“That’s simple: I don’t.” Weisse did what the Professor could best describe as a slasher smile. “His survival isn’t important for us, we can claim it was a failed kidnapping attempt and it was the NATO coalition that killed him to prevent the rescue. Or, even better, not acknowledge the incident at all and say he just passed away due to his illness.”
Of course. From what I understood, the excuse they gave from his public disappearance was that of a serious illness. They were already prepared to kill him once it became convenient.
“Once Shilage has dealt with them all, Belka will begin the counterattack.”
The Professor crossed his arms. “As much as I am as hopeful as you, I’d like to remind you, he’s fighting the Mongoose himself, the rest of the White Birds, and the Demons of Razgriz.”
As much as I don’t want to lose Shilage, I’m curious whether you can pull another of your miracles, son.
Sergio rolled out of the way of another railgun shot. “Let’s split out and attack him from multiple angles. He needs to focus on me to aim with that thing, you can try to take him by surprise.”
“Roger that,” Corolla said. “I’ll try to get an ID on what he’s flying, too!”
Sergio’s Galahad finally got a lock, and he fired a full micromissile burst. Shilage pulled up and turned right to avoid the onslaught, allowing Sergio to get a better view of the aircraft.
A canard delta, single tail configuration, with what appeared to be a single large engine in the fuselage and two smaller ones at the very tip of the wing, all leaving orange particle trails.
As he started to give chase, though, the wingtip engines detached and targeting squares appeared over them as they maneuvered away from their mother aircraft. Drones? Don’t tell me…
“Bad news, guys,” Corolla said. “I think that’s some derivative of the Sv-262 Draken III with Lil Draken drones. That’s a fifth generation variable fighter like ours!”
“Got it,” Sergio said. “Change of plans. Comet, Robogirl, take down the drones. We can’t risk them going after the Razgriz. I’ll try to keep him busy until you’re done.”
He gritted his teeth. With an advanced Variable Fighter like that one, there were plenty of new tricks Shilage could’ve come up with.
Shilage dove between the skyscrapers of the high-rise area of the city, and Sergio followed him, machine guns blazing. The head turret fired as well, meaning Nikki was trying to take some potshots too, but all shots only ended up hitting the ruined buildings as Shilage kept weaving through them.
Left, right, left, right… weird, it’s a predictable pattern. Sergio thought as he switched to GERWALK mode to better deal with the sharp turns. He’s up to something, better put some salt on his tail before he gets all the dots together.
He switched to the arm-mounted mini gunpods, but put his finger on the missile release button. The attachment point for the XMAA pylons was on a piece of wing that turned into the forearm armor, so the missiles were pointing the same way as the gunpods.
He followed Shilage as he turned left at an intersection, and fired a full salvo into the road going right at the following one.
Shilage weaved out of the right turn, going straight instead, and one of the drones crossed the intersection just as he was through.
“He aimed and fired the missiles without a lock. Interesting.” Shilage commented.
Ami’s Galahad crossed the intersection as well, and Sergio pulled up and rolled to avoid flying into her.
“Whoa, that was close!” Nikki shouted.
“He tried to set up a double head-on attack?” Ami said.
“Or maybe to get us to fly into each other,” Sergio added drily. “Robogirl, can you set up a tactical map or something? I realized just in time that he was up to something, but we gotta make sure we don’t fall for it again.”
“Sure thing, coming up.”
Sergio started gaining a lock on Shilage’s aircraft, but just as he fired a couple of standard missiles at him his Draken III somersaulted, dodging the missiles and ending up on the Galahad’s tail in a perfectly executed Kulbit.
Sergio switched his aircraft to GERWALK mode, and spun it around with a kick to the left pedal, proceeding then to Battroid mode. The full immersion mode activated, and he gripped the gunpod just as the missile alarm started blaring.
Sergio opened fire, and Shilage’s missile blew up mid-travel. The Draken III swung its engines out and dove in an alleyway just as Sergio moved its aim to it, a few sparks trailing off the dark gray aircraft as it got hit by a handful of shells.
“Like the other time,” Shilage commented while Sergio resumed the chase. “Not bad at all… let’s see if you’re truly worthy.”
Ami turned left hard, trying to not crash into the skyscrapers while chasing one of the drones. She double-tapped the ordinance button, sending a couple of missiles after the drone, but only one hit, the drone twisting just before impact and then continuing unfazed.
“They fly like Shilage himself does!” she shouted. “They’re deflecting damage away!”
“And on top of that, they’re slippery!” Corolla added. “I’m firing micromissiles as fast as I can, but they’re not hitting!”
“Robogirl, don’t waste them,” Ami said, following the drone as it turned a corner. “You can’t just fire them blindly, or you’re going to run out in no time!”
She glanced at the tactical map, and noticed that the two drones were converging. “Don’t tell me… they’re trying that maneuver again?”
“They’re toying with us!” Corolla shouted.
“What if we turn it against them? If we fire a salvo at the same time, just as they are crossing each other’s path…”
“We’ll completely fill the road with explosions! Let’s do it!”
Ami steeled herself, and switched to the micromissiles. One more corner to go. The drone turned right, and she followed it, firing as soon as she finished the turn. She switched to GERWALK mode and braked, letting the drone and missiles get further from her.
The other drone came into view, also chased by micromissiles. As soon as they were near each other, the space between the two skyscrapers was filled by many small explosions.
Then, a huge orange fireball erupted from the middle, and her Galahad was swept away. The world turned upside down, alarms blaring, and Ami wrestled with the sticks to regain control.
Her aircraft stabilized less than a meter from the nearest building, and another building just a bit further crumbled down, filling the road with dust and debris.
“Comet, are you alright?” Corolla screamed.
“Yes… I think.” She turned towards the back seat. “Syaoron?”
“Y-yeah, I’m good,” he said, still breathing heavily.
Ami sighed in relief and glanced at the multifunction display. While most indicators were alright, the Energy Conversion Armor levels were in the red. “The energy armor held, but just barely. What was that?”
“I saw it from here!” Nikki shouted. “And those particle trails…”
“Of course!” Corolla interjected. “Cordium engines! That’s the only way to get enough power for a Draken III without thermonuclear turbines!”
Ami accelerated out, going towards Corolla’s aircraft. While one of the drones had exploded, the other was still flying, although it was leaving smoke trails in its wake. “Wait, didn’t we destroy the extraction plant?”
“Maybe some leftovers,” Sergio wondered. “A fighter surely uses far less than an aerial warship.”
Ami nodded. That was the only possible explanation, and besides they had more pressing matters to think about. She switched to the SAAM missiles – it was better to keep some distance.
“Incoming!” Nikki shouted as she noticed the blue flash of Shilage’s railgun charging up. The Galahad rolled, and the railgun shot passed right next to it.
“Another miss,” Shilage said. “Even this weapon is not enough for the Mongoose.”
“He’s getting more accurate. We need to think of something,” Sergio said as the Galahad dove left at an intersection. The aircraft slowed down suddenly as it went past the corner, shifting to Battroid mode.
Nikki glanced right. The head turret now was under Sergio’s control, so she could afford to give a better look to Shilage’s aircraft. Maybe there’s something we can take advantage of.
The Draken III turned in, and was greeted by a hail of shells and lasers. Sergio had fired everything he had, but once again Shilage suffered only a handful of hits as he swung out the legs of the Draken III and backpedaled out of the alley.
“Damn it!” Sergio shouted. “I’m starting to run out of ammo, and that thing seems to be still in perfect condition!”
Wait a minute…. Only the legs swung out!
“Lightning, I just realized something!” Nikki shouted. “He doesn’t fully transition to GERWALK mode!”
“And I haven’t seen him use Battroid mode even once,” Sergio agreed as he took off again to pursue Shilage.
“Maybe the airframe is incomplete and can’t fully transform?”
“Or maybe it’s him. He’s an old pilot with no ground combat experience, I think he’s using that thing as an extremely mobile fighter, not as a mecha.”
Nikki opened fire with the head turret as soon as Shilage was in range, but again he kept weaving through buildings throwing off her aim. “You’re right, he’s your grandfather’s age. Learning how to pilot a mecha at this age must be very hard.”
Sergio fired off his last salvo of XMAAs without a lock, forcing Shilage out of a turn. Sergio opened fire with the gunpod, and Shilage turned around in GERWALK mode. The railgun under the fuselage glowed again, and Sergio dove into an alleyway to dodge.
“Again!” Nikki shouted. “The railgun is attached like a gunpod, but he didn’t use the arms to aim it better!”
“This settles it. We must lure him into a close quarters situation where Battroid mode has the advantage, and he can’t easily back out from… is there any dead end with tall buildings?”
Nikki glanced at the tactical map. “Let’s see…Fourth left, then second right. What’s the plan?”
“If my hunch is right, he doesn’t know how to use a Variable Fighter in melee. There’s this maneuver I saw Hibiki do to do a fast U-turn, then I’ll leave the controls to you. You’re way better with the beam saber than I will ever be. If you manage to chop a wing off, that’s it. We won.”
Nikki bit her lip as she fired with the head turret to intercept a missile. “I have to be careful not to hit the engines, though. If they blow up in our faces, we’re goners too!”
“I know. But I trust you.”
Nikki took a deep breath as the Galahad turned left. She gripped the controls tightly, her finger ready on the Battroid mode switch. “I’m ready.”
“This is it,” Sergio said as he turned right. The road was cut off by a very tall skyscraper, with other buildings flanking the sides.
“Wrong turn,” Shilage said. “You’ve been quite the entertainer, but you committed a mistake. This will be over with the next shot.”
Sergio switched the Galahad to GERWALK mode and veered left, rolling right just as he approached the left corner of the road. He kicked off the wall of the left building, and then that of the skyscraper at the end of the road. A missile missed the Galahad barely, crashing through one of the windows of the skyscraper.
Sergio kicked off the next building and accelerated towards Shilage. “Now!”
Nikki accepted the control swap request and flicked the Battroid mode switch. The Galahad transformed, now fully controlled by her mind, and she pulled out the beam saber from its bay.
She quickly evaluated her strike angle, but she was in a bad position to hit the wings. The Galahad had lost too much altitude with the maneuver. The Draken III swung its engines out, presumably to avoid going straight into the skyscraper. The junction between legs and fuselage was right in front of her eyes.
“Kyaaaaa!” Nikki shouted at the top of her lungs as she swung the beam saber, cutting through the articulations. Her momentum caused the Galahad to barrel through as well, hitting both legs and fuselage of the Draken III before crashing and skidding on the ruined asphalt below.
“Urgh…” Sergio began. “That was one hell of a rough landing, Starlight. Are you alright?”
“The last one I did at Sand Island was much worse,” Nikki said as she maneuvered the Galahad back to its feet. From the readouts on the display, the Galahad hadn’t sustained much in the way of damage either. “Did I get him?”
In front of her, the engineless Draken III was laying on top of some rubble. The engines were nowhere in sight, likely having shot off as soon as they were severed from the rest of the plane.
The armored cockpit of the Draken III opened, and someone got up from inside, his arms raised in surrender.
“You did!” Sergio shouted. “Skystreaker One to Long Caster and Wolfram, splash one! We got Shilage!”
“And we got the last drone, too!” Corolla chipped in. “Luckily this one didn’t go boom!”
“Long Caster to Skystreaker Squadron, copy. Excellent work.”
“Razgriz One here, did I hear it right? Lightning shot down the King of the Skies?”
“You crazy son of a bitch, you did it!” Alvin shouted.
Sergio laughed. “Oh, I didn’t do it alone. I couldn’t have done it without my squadron.”
He raised his hand towards Nikki, and she hit a high five.
“There’s nothing we can’t do together,” he said.
“Mmh-mmh,” Nikki hummed in agreement. “So, what do we do now?”
“We ask for someone to pick up Shilage and what remains of his plane – we’re going to finally get some answers.”
***
“We lost contact with Sol One!”
The Professor crossed his arms. So, I think it really went their way.
“Reroute the closest relay aircraft there,” Weisse ordered. “It might just be the magnetic interference of that area disrupting comms.”
“Yes, sir… Wait, we have an emergency transmission by Sol One. I’m putting it on screen.”
SHOT DOWN – CAPTURED NO INJURIES – MONGOOSE HAS THE CROWN appeared over one of the holographic screens.
“Mother of God…” Weisse said, his voice little more than a whisper. “The King of the Skies with the new aircraft… and he shot them down?”
“I always told you to not underestimate Skystreaker One,” the Professor said. “And you lost one of my pilots by sending him out without talking about it with me first. This has a price, Commander.”
Weisse pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his forehead. “Of course, we’ll go through the details of the reimbursement later. If you can excuse me, I have to inform my higher-ups of the operation’s failure. Why did Shilage bother to confirm they have the Prince, it is obvious…”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure that’s not what he meant.” The Professor smiled as he started heading out of the bridge. “The King is dead. Long live the King.”
He walked past the door, smiling to himself. Well, Sergio, I dare say that despite all you still managed to go past my highest expectations about you.
***
“Here they are!” Snow shouted as soon as Sergio and the rest of Skystreaker Squadron entered the salon of the Clow Kingdom’s royal palace. “The new King of the Skies, and his court!”
Sergio raised his hands in a “slow down” sign. “Wait a minute. I don’t think I can truly take his title – it was a team effort. In fact, it was Nikki who did the killing blow.”
“But you came up with the strategy, and got the plane in position for me to strike,” Nikki rebutted.
“King and Queen, then?” Alvin said. “Man, you heard the NATO radio chatter? Everyone went wild when they heard the ‘Ace Killer’ had been shot down!”
“Yes, but the greatest achievement is the one we did all together.” Sergio turned his head towards where Johnson, King Fujitaka and Prince Frederick were talking. “This war is almost over, I feel it.”
“We feel the same, too,” Nagase said as she motioned the Skystreakers to take some sparkling wine glasses from the refreshments table.
Once everyone had one, Snow raised his own. “To a peaceful future!”
“To a peaceful future!” Everyone repeated.
***
“The King of the Skies was shot down? Are you kidding?”
“I wish I was, but it really happened! The Mongoose did him in!”
“Him? If not even Shilage could stop him, who can?”
“We’re done, this war is over! Game over man, game over!”
Chris felt her stomach knot up as she heard the crew of the Durandal descend into panic. Was it really possible? The old guy was a legend, and was pretty much untouchable in the sky.
But, then again, Skystreaker One was able to damage his plane once already.
“Chris, with me,” the Professor said.from behind her. “We need to talk.”
Chris followed him back to his lab. “Is it true? Skystreaker One got the old guy?”
“Unfortunately, yes. This means we have to start the contingency plan. We’re taking everything we don’t immediately need out of here – I’ve already sent Miksa to bring his cousins Ionela and Alma to a safe place, and Foulke will bring his spare plane to Falcon’s Nest as well.”
Chris blinked. “Don’t tell me… we’re preparing our exit?”
“That is the case. The fate of this war has been set in stone – and Belka has lost.”
***
“So, we finally meet face to face,” Johnson said as he sat next to Shilage. He set down a bottle and two glasses on the small table between the two chairs.
He had always wondered what he would do if that happened – he had lost his wingmen to the Burning Shark of his world, and the one in front of him had killed many of the best pilots of the NATO coalition.
And yet, he couldn’t feel any hatred. In the end, they were the same thing – old pilots whose age had finally come to an end.
“How do you wish me to call you? You have gained many titles, as far as I know.”
“Just Mihaly will be fine,” Shilage said, his expression unreadable.
“I see. Well, then be my guest and call me Leroy. ‘Bikini Heart’ is a thing of the past.”
Shilage turned towards him. “You stopped flying all of a sudden. We never had our final confrontation.”
“That’s right. But, you see, I had realized it was time to give my old bones some rest, and let a new generation go ahead. It may sound cowardly, but I think it was the right thing to do.”
“I see. So that’s the way you actually defeated me.”
Johnson raised an eyebrow. What was Shilage getting at?
“You passed on your wings to a successor, and trusted him, while I did anything it took to keep mine to myself. I was too proud, and time caught up with me.”
Shilage then glanced at the group of people at the refreshments table, Sergio in the middle. “A younger, better pilot was bound to arrive, sooner or later. One who had what I missed.”
Johnson nodded slowly. “So, you realized, finally?”
“Yes. I can see it in front of my eyes. I always flew just for myself. I taught countless younger pilots, but in flight they were just following orders, or devoted to the idea of serving the King of the Skies. But I am no King.
“Him, on the other hand… His wingmen and comrades trust and support him, and he does the same for them. He will guide them, something I was never able to do.”
Shilage closed his eyes, and lowered his head. “If there is someone worthy of that crown, it is someone like him. It’s ironic that in the end it was your grandson, and not mine, but I guess you were the superior teacher after all.”
Johnson laughed. “Oh, I gave him some pointers, but he found his own way. You’re giving me too much credit, Mihaly.”
He unscrewed the cap of the bottle. “I hope you like bourbon?”
***
Nikki glanced warily at Corolla and Kathleen. They had insisted for she and Ami to follow them to the bedroom she and Sergio were going to share that night, so they were surely planning something.
“So!” Corolla said. “I’m sure you’re wondering why we asked you to follow us, so it is time to share with you our idea. You all know today is Sergio’s birthday, right?”
“Of course,” Nikki said. “You pulled us away from what’s also his birthday party.”
Corolla’s expression clearly read “oh right”.
“Anyways,” Kathleen continued for her, “we came up with an idea to make him a special birthday gift, but it needs the two of you.”
Ami inched closer to Nikki. “Should we be scared?”
“Don’t worry! We’re not planning anything crazy… for once.” Corolla cheered just as two balls of blue light formed in mid-air, before turning into two sets of frilly lingerie, one white and one black.
Nikki raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you’re planning for us to…”
“Give my lil’ bro a bit of eye candy.” Kathleen winked. “We’re not asking you to have a threesome, that would be very rude on our part.”
“Though, of course, no one will stop you if you decide to.” Corolla put her fists to her sides. “I’m still a firm believer that the Harem Route provides the perfect ending for the three of you.”
Nikki felt the urge to facepalm, while Ami’s face turned tomato red.
“Well… it’s a bit much to ask anyway,” Nikki said.
“Don’t worry, I understand. If you don’t want to do it, I will be bummed but that’s OK.” Kathleen glanced at Corolla warily. “I don’t know if she will take a no though.”
“Come on, it will be fun!” Corolla pulled out a roll of red ribbon from her dimensional pocket. “I’m sure Sergio will enjoy it, too!”
Ami looked like she could literally melt any second. “If Nikki is alright with it too…”
Nikki took a deep breath, but smiled. “Well, I guess there’s nothing bad in doing it just this once. As long as you don’t get strange ideas about the ‘Harem Route’, of course.”
***
Sergio opened the door of the room that had been assigned to him and Nikki.
“Nikki, you here? Corolla said-”
“Mmh!”
Sergio blinked. He had stayed away from anything alcoholic except that single glass of champagne, so he was sure he was not drunk. But the scene was still something that felt unlikely.
Nikki and Ami, sitting back-to-back on the bed in lingerie, tied and gagged together with red ribbon.
“So, uhm…” Sergio said. “Corolla happened, I assume? And maybe Kathleen too?”
Both girls nodded.
“Jeez…” Sergio facepalmed. “So this is her idea of the ‘perfect birthday gift’. Trying to goad us into a threesome.”
He sighed. “Well, that doesn’t look comfortable at all, so please don’t mind me if I actually do some unwrapping.”
***
Sergio opened his eyes. Judging by the light in the room, the sun was high up, but that was a given. After all, with that mission they had all pulled an all-nighter.
Well, I guess it is alright if I nap a bit more. I’m still so tired, Nikki feels twice the weight. And that dream… yeah, no way such a thing could have happened.
He blinked. Yes, Nikki was, as usual, sleeping with her head on his shoulder, hugging his chest. But the weight on his chest was too much for it to be just her arm.
He glanced down, and found what looked like a ball of black hair where the excess weight was located. Wait a minute.
The ball moved, revealing itself to be Ami’s head. She opened her eyes and looked at him, her bare shoulders poking out of the blanket. “Morning.”
“… Morning.” Sergio repeated.
There must be a reasonable explanation for this. Possibly involving Corolla, and perhaps Kathleen too.
Nikki stirred as well, rubbing her eyes. She glanced at Sergio, then at Ami. “Uhm… good morning?”
They stared at each other for a good full minute.
“So… uhm,” Sergio started. “It happened?”
Ami’s face became tomato red. “Well…”
Nikki smiled, her face flushed as well. “It happened.”
I still blame Corolla and Kathleen for this.
And yes, I started with intense action and high stakes, and I ended up with the main love triangle being sneakily Tenchi Solutioned by Corolla and Kathleen. But The World Without authors is all about getting to work things that usually don’t.
With this, only one chapter left to go until the end of the first arc! Stay tuned!
Strike Dove features a wild mix of nationalities, so I realized that it might sound unnatural for all members of the cast to be able to understand each other so easily. As such, I decided to do a little bit of digging to see which languages apply to each character – surprisingly, despite the TSAB translation device being available, they actually don’t need to rely on them too much!
Sergio His native language is, of course, Italian. He speaks English fluently as a result of the conditioning and training he had been put under under to become Marco Leone’s right-hand, and picked up a bit of Japanese after meeting and becoming friends with Shinichi Kudo a couple years before Mai Dire Fine began. He only became fluent in it after moving to Japan with Nikki, though Ami had helped him improve somewhat while at Strike Dove.
Nikki Nikki’s native language is Japanese, though being created in a badly written fanfiction set in Italy caused her to be fluent in Italian as well despite having no reason to. While she learned some English at school, her pre-PPC wandering and PPC service allowed her to practice and become fluent in it as well. The same, of course, applies to Hanami as well, though she might be a bit less fluent in English.
Corolla As an Unison Device, her native language is Mid-Childan, which is basically a somewhat corrupt version of English. As such, she picked up actual English fairly easily. She also knows Lyrical Nanoha-verse Belkan, with its similarity to German allows her to understand the latter somewhat (but not perfectly). After meeting Sergio and Nikki, she made an effort to learn her friends’ native languages as well, so she’s now fairly proficient in Italian and Japanese as well.
Ami She is a fairly odd case, as despite being Japanese she’s actually most fluent in English – her parents moved to the United States when she was little. Of course, she’s still proficient in Japanese as well, though her Japanese handwriting is a bit over the place as a result. She tried picking up some Italian from Sergio, but as shown in Blank Sprite she didn’t really have the time to learn it properly before her death. In Hajime’s timeline, instead, it is likely that she eventually became somewhat proficient with it.
Ai Ai is Japanese as well, so we have another native Japanese speaker. She studied English at school, but her grades apparently weren’t so great so she relied on a translation device for a while. She is, however, making a conscious effort to improve, and as of now she can keep up a conversation in English unaided.
Keiko She was born and raised in Japan, so of course Japanese is her native language. However, Sergio spoke some Italian to her since she was little, so she’s fairly proficient in it as well. She, of course, studied English in school, and has fairly good grades in it.
Hajime Born and raised in the United States, Hajime is most fluent in English, though like Keiko she picked up her parents’ native languages when she was little. While not perfectly fluent, she can keep up a conversation in Italian and attend a Japanese high school with no issue, though she has a noticeable American accent.
Kathleen Her native language is Italian, though she’s also fluent in English and learned several other languages while on the run (her powers might’ve helped somewhat). She has at least some proficiency in Japanese, though she used a tanslation device at first.
Faith Another native Italian, but she’s fluent in English having studied in the United States for some time. She is learning Japanese as well, but still relies on a translation device to avoid misunderstandings.
Colonel Johnson The Colonel is, of course, an English native speaker. He probably picked up some Italian from his wife Michela, but not much. He was stationed in Japanese USAF bases so he actually tried to learn some Japanese, but fairly unsuccessfully. He is making another effort right now, but his age isn’t helping.
Virgilia Another Italian, so a native Italian speaker. She does speak English fairly fluently as well. but will likely take some time to learn Japanese.
Razgriz Squadron Since their country, Osea, was patterned after the Unites States their native language seems to be English. I suspect Nagase originates or descends from whatever country is the Ace Combat equivalent of Japan, so she might be able to speak Japanese. Regardless, all four of them are likely making an effort to learn the language.
Wolfram’s crew As members of the TSAB, Mid-Childan is likely either their native language, or one they are fairly fluent in. Some of them, like Hayate and Nanoha, actually originate from Japan, while others (Fate, the Wolkenritter) might have made an effort to learn Japanese. Regardless, they’re the ones who provided the real-time translation technology.
Former Kumaneko crew These guys are the ones most in trouble, as iti s implied that their world’s language is different from the ones from Earth. They are likely still relying on translation devices to this day, but are also likely to be taking classes in at least English and Japanese.
And here we are, with yet another chapter released! This chapter features characters introduced during one of my collaborations with Huinesoron, and it won’t be the only intersection between my works and his. But no more spoilers, you’ll know soon enough! As usual, thanks to Doctorlit for betaing this chapter.
Mission Record 18 – The Panther, the Car and the Dandelion
Prince Frederick of Bedwig glanced out of his room’s window. The first snow of the year had fallen, which meant he was finally getting a slight change in view. After all, he had not been allowed to leave that room since the summer.
Since he was arrested and brought there by Belkan nationalists after being accused of “defiling Belka’s proud warrior history.”
Don’t lose hope. They’re taking more time than I expected, alright, but trust me: PPC Agents are a force to be reckoned with. Someone will be coming.
The voice in his head wasn’t his, but that of his fellow imprisoned companion. Prince Frederick turned around towards the other occupant of the room.
A giant, sentient, telepathic dandelion.
“How can you be this sure, Mr. Dandy? It has been two months since you were brought here already.”
The dandelion set down the cup he was holding with his tendrils. I have picked up some chatter from this place’s security detail. If I am correct, this ‘Mongoose’ their pilots seem to be afraid of might actually be a former employee of my organization. If Agents Knight and Li can get hold of him, we won’t be staying here for long.”
“The Mongoose?” While not to the extent the dandelion did, Prince Frederick had overheard some stories about the NATO coalition’s mercenary ace. “The bane of the Belkan Air Force is one of your agents?”
Not exactly mine, he was in SpecOps. But I had the privilege of meeting him during the Blackout emergency, and I read the report on the Blank Sprite Incident in which he performed admirably. It will be a bit of a long story, but if you’re willing to hear, I will tell you.”
Prince Frederick sat down on his bed. “We have a lot of time and not much to keep ourselves busy. Please, go on.”
***
Gino sat down in front of Johnson. “I’m sorry for accessing your computer unauthorized and ordering your men around, but-”
“Nonsense, Mr. Scribetto,” Johnson said. “If it wasn’t for your intuition, I would be burying most if not all of my pilots right now. The end completely justified the means.”
Gino nodded. He shouldn’t have been surprised – he wrote Johnson that way.
“I couldn’t really leave my characters to fend for themselves, could I? In a way, you’re my children.”
Johnson laughed. “That’s a way to put it. Anyways, I have something I need to ask you.”
Gino gulped. Was it something about his daughter?
“You came from the other side of the fourth wall, so you clearly know many things that we don’t. Especially about that Ikaruga guy who came up with that travesty of an assault plan.”
Oh, that’s what he wants to know.
“I do.” Gino nodded. “So… I think you know the Razgriz’ history?”
“The gist of it. They used to be Wardog Squadron, an Osean squadron involved in the war between the countries of Osea and Yuktobania. The war was orchestrated by Belka as revenge for a prior war, and the Belkans tried to assassinate Wardog Squadron and later set them up as spies since they were a bit too good and they could’ve ended the war too soon.
“The surviving Wardog escaped, and joined up with other forces that had discovered what really was going on to form the Ghosts of Razgriz. They rescued the Osean and Yuktobanian presidents from the collaborationists, and sortied against the Belkans under direct orders of the Osean president in order to stop the war. Am I correct?”
“It’s a really simplified synopsis, but that’s it, yeah. Now, as you might’ve noticed, despite coming from a wholly different world there’s another Wardog squadron really similar to them. The IJA’s 17th Tactical Surface Fighter Squadron. While not all of their story had been released before the Unravel, I could read enough to see that despite the completely different setting their name and story has been clearly inspired by the original Wardog Squadron.”
Johnson nodded. “That really explains why some of them seemed to be parallels of each other.”
“Yuzuka Sendou is an expy of Kei Nagase, Ellen Aice of Alvin Davenport, Shizuku Miono of Hans Grimm. Their flight leader, Hibiki Tatsunami, is a bit too talkative to really be Blaze and we have no Marcus Snow so far, though. As for our relevant guy, Lord Regent Takatsugu Ikaruga, he is pretty much the equivalent of the Belkan ‘Grey Men’, scheming and pulling strings behind the scenes. He took advantage of a power vacuum to become the de facto ruler of the Muv-Luv universe’s Japan, even managing to pass off his coup d’etat as saving the country from a different coup happening at the same time.
“The Shogun, Yuuhi Koubuin… Well, actually her twin sister Meiya is filling in for her, but that’s not really important right now. Anyways, Koubuin is technically the figurehead, but her power is actually very limited. She has a few loyal supporters, and as you can guess Wardog Squadron is alongside them, but it’s Ikaruga who’s really pulling the strings. And this war is a godsend for him.”
“I can see where you’re going, Scribetto. It fits in what I thought at first – that it would be very convenient for him if the Wardogs were to fall in battle. In fact, I now think he actually wanted the operation to fail – he doesn’t want Belka to fall too quickly, he needs the Japanese government to be weakened enough for him to work his way to the top again. In fact, considering Strike Dove’s combat record, I wouldn’t be surprised if we were also targeted to make sure NATO wouldn’t get to Dinsmark too quickly.” Johnson chuckled. “I think you threw a really big spanner in his works, Scribetto.”
“What can I say? I’m an aircraft technician. The spanner is my weapon.”
“Speaking of that… I heard you’re going to go back home soon?”
Gino nodded. “For a given value of ‘home’, yes. The Phoenix is officially out of the experimental phase and has been fully commissioned, so the company doesn’t need any more data from your pre-production airframe. I’ll try to stay in contact with you guys, though.”
“I see… So, how much are they paying you?”
Gino raised an eyebrow. “Why do you ask?”
“As you know, we’re still understaffed, and we really could use not only one more pair of hands for our aircraft, but also an advisor who has a lot of intel we’re currently missing.” Johnson smiled. “I think you fit those requirements, Mr. Scribetto.”
***
“And yeah, this means I’m actually going to stick around,” Gino said. “I’m happier this way, really. I lost track of you for a few weeks and you were all falling apart already.”
Nikki bit her lip. Her author was referring to her especially.
“What can I say?” Sergio shrugged. “We’re difficult cases, but we’re all doing our best.”
“I would never doubt that.” Gino smiled. “Chin up and stay strong, you’ve got this. I made you so.”
He glanced at his wristwatch. “Well, time for me to go. I heard you guys have gotten some leave time after that mess of an operation, but we now have a ton of aircraft to look over before you get back.”
Sergio nodded. “Everyone who was in it got a full week. The NATO forces are advancing steadily and many of the Belkan ace squadrons are already out of the picture, so I hope they can do without us for a few days. We really need the rest.”
“Can’t disagree. Have fun!”
***
“Qualifier races?” Keiko asked as she strapped herself into the Garland’s cockpit.
“Yes, the first one is going to be next month,” Osamu said. “Apparently, there’s been a lot more applicants than spaces on the grid, so there are going to be three qualification races. The first eight from each race will take part in next year’s championship.”
Keiko’s stomach knotted up. So, this is it. I’m really racing again.
“Something’s the matter, Keiko?”
“Nothing, I just hope I’m gonna be fast enough by then. I’m nowhere near Hayato’s times.”
Osamu took a step back. “Keep in mind he’s a five times champion, and the currently reigning one. It would be unfair to ask you to match his times, and as I said for now an eighth place would be enough. From what you’ve shown so far, you have more than enough speed already, but of course I expect you to keep improving.”
Osamu put his headset on, and Keiko took that as a cue to close the canopy and start the engine. Time to get to work.
***
“Do what you love, and you’ll never work another day in your life!” Corolla shouted as she stood on the wing of a VF-25.
“So that’s why you didn’t take up the offer for a vacation?” Hajime said from below.
“A vacation?” Corolla couldn’t believe her ears. “With all these new toys around to fiddle with? This is better than any vacation!”
She jumped down from the wing and opened up several holographic windows. “I’ve finalized the design for a power plant for both the VF-25 and VF-31 – basically, I’m hybridizing the thermonuclear turbines with my Minoutar Drives. Now that I managed to get my replicator working, building the high-tech parts is a breeze.”
Hajime glanced warily at the replicator. “If you say so, Auntie…”
“Sure, I used the frame of an old industrial oven, but everything inside is made of top notch parts. It could even make a true GN drive!… If I actually had the plans for one. Anyways, as you can see I’ve finalized the modification for the aircraft, and even worked on a couple side projects.”
Hajime pushed aside the windows labeled “SF-26 Blaze” and “SF-32 Starlightning” and turned her attention to one labeled “Delta Stormer CXF-1”.
“Wait, is that…”
“Well, since the Asurada AKF-0 can’t really deal with my engine, I had to develop a test bed that does.”
***
“No offense, but… I think our Response Center was bigger.”
Sergio laughed as he put down some of Nikki’s luggage. “I know. It’s just a temporary accomodation, though. Unless you are into sneaking inside storerooms to have some privacy?”
Nikki joined in his laugh. “No, of course not.”
She put down the bags she was carrying and sat on the couch. “It feels cozy, though.”
“Yeah, it’s not bad. Even Ami approved of it.”
Nikki glared at him. Her face looked upset, but Sergio could see she was faking it.
“So I’m not the first girl you brought here?”
“Oh, I would’ve brought you instead, but you were busy visiting someone else’s apartment that night.”
They stared at each other for a few seconds, then both laughed again. Sergio walked over to the couch and sat next to her. “We both made our fair share of mistakes, didn’t we?”
“Yeah… We’re really lost without each other.” Nikki pulled Vanguard off its string. The star-shaped gem was different now – a simple flat shape instead of the faceted star it used to be.
“That’s not how I remember it,” Sergio said.
Nikki nodded. “Yeah. Corolla said she managed to get it working again, but she’s still waiting for parts to do a full overhaul. Something about having used a standard Storage Device board for the time being, she said that I only have Saber mode available now. I’m still glad to have it back, though. I can start exercising my magic properly again.”
“That’s good news! Even if it doesn’t have all its features back yet, it’s way better than nothing.”
Nikki took a deep breath. “I don’t think I have all of my ‘features’ back yet either, and some I might never get back…”
Sergio gulped. Was it a bad sign?
Nikki turned towards him, smiling. “But you all were right. I’m much more than I thought I was. And, even if I indeed was useless… that wouldn’t have stopped you from loving me, or the others from being my friends.”
Sergio nodded. “As I tried to tell you, I like you the way you are. The girl who shielded me from Vera sword in hand, looking like nothing in the world could stop her, but also the one who took refuge in my arms when the Organization tore the world apart, and I was afraid I could hurt just by hugging too tight.”
He kissed her on the forehead. “The girl who isn’t afraid of chewing me out when I’m being an idiot as usual, but would sleep until noon if no one woke her up. The one I’m in love with is Nikki, and ‘First Lieutenant Cherryflower’ is only a small part of her to me.”
“Well, about that… It’s First Lieutenant Kinomoto-Cherryflower now.”
Sergio blinked a couple of times. What did she mean by that?
“I finished up the paperwork to become legally part of the Kinomoto family. I was stumped whether to keep the surname I gave myself when I was recruited into the PPC, or change it back to Kinomoto… and in the end I just kept both.”
She laughed. “It may sound stupid, but while I’m glad to have parents and siblings again I just can’t let go of the surname that marked me becoming… well, myself and not just a Sakura clone.”
Sergio looked up in thought. “Nikki Kinomoto-Cherryflower… that’s a bit of a mouthful.”
“Well, I’m on a first name basis with pretty much anyone that matters, and outside that I’m fine with being addressed by just one of the surnames.”
“True.” Sergio nodded. “So, that’s one matter dealt with. Now, we just need to sort out the fact I’m stuck having to take responsibility for future and alternate versions of me knocking up both you and Ami.”
Nikki laughed. “We all work, so at least money won’t be too much of an issue. You won’t have to work a double shift to feed us all, Dad.”
“Still leaves a bit of logistical issues, I’m afraid.” Sergio leaned back on the sofa’s backrest. “Ami and I actually started giving it some thought. Keiko and Hajime pretty much officially recognized each other as sisters, so we aren’t really into separating them. And it would be nice for both of them to live with their parents, so we were considering looking for some place the five of us could all live in. Of course, it doesn’t mean I’m fine with the Harem Route nonsense.”
Nikki looked up in thought. “Don’t worry, I can see what you mean. It might not be a perfect solution, but… I guess that’s the best we can do. In fact, it might actually be fun!”
“So that’s a yes? I was afraid you might’ve had qualms sharing a roof with… well, the other girl I bedded.”
“Well, to be fair… we both owe her so much I don’t actually mind what happened. Besides, if she’s stuck having to finish raising Hajime, she did at least, you know…” Nikki let out a short giggle. “Get to experience the fun part of conceiving her daughter?”
Sergio shrugged. “Let’s put it that way.”
“Still, it’s my turn now.” Nikki said as she started fiddling with her jeans’ buttons.
Sergio chuckled. “You aren’t even unpacking your bags first?”
“We don’t need any clothes for that.”
***
Chris breathed in deeply, a bucket ready under her face. Don’t puke… don’t puke…
Despite her best efforts, her breakfast resurfaced anyway.
“Three against one, and they didn’t manage to lay a finger on him. This new aircraft is insane,” one of the ground crew said.
“Sol Three got a hit,” Shilage admitted. “She flew with her teeth and nails, and managed to sneak a simulated gun burst where I didn’t expect it.”
At the cost of my dignity.
Chris wiped her mouth, and glanced at the Project Vortigern prototype. As much as it looked like an enlarged version of an old Saab fighter, it turned out to be a highly advanced Variable Fighter – it flew circles around her Sv-51.
That, despite the fact Shilage barely bothered to use GERWALK mode and didn’t use Battroid mode at all.
Her father patted her shoulder. “Excellent work. You got a hit on Shilage while he was flying a superior aircraft – you really improved a lot.”
“Yeah, thanks. But if you want me to not get mushed by G forces trying to keep up, you should get me one of those things too.”
The Professor laughed. “Don’t worry, that’s in the plans. Three more airframes are nearing completion as of now, and of course they’re all equipped with Inertia Storage Converters.”
He grabbed her shoulder and lowered his voice. “With these, we’ll be able to work faster towards my Dream.”
And I’ll be finally able to defeat Skystreaker One.
***
“Be careful, the brakes on that one aren’t operative!” Gino shouted to some of the ground crew as they towed a VF-25 from one of the storage hangars to the one where it was to be worked on.
“Don’t worry, we’ll go slow!” the driver of the tug shouted back.
Gino nodded in satisfaction. Strike Dove’s ground crew could’ve been a ragtag bunch, but they worked hard.
“Uh, I’m sorry…” Someone said from behind him. Gino turned around, and found himself looking at what looked like an older Syaoran.
“Oh, you must be Syaoron Li, right? If you’re looking for Nikki, she’s not here. Most of the pilots have this week off.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not here for her. I have an appointment with Mr. Johnson. Can you give me directions to his office?”
Gino raised an eyebrow. Did he want to start working with Strike Dove as well? “Sure. Enter the building on your right, take the lobby’s stairs, turn left. It’s the last door in the corridor.”
“Thank you.” Syaoron pointed at a black car parked near the entrance. “Is it fine if I leave the car there?”
“No problem at all,” Gino said as he squinted his eyes. That old Honda Integra was not the car he imagined Syaoron to have – for some reason, he imagined him to be more of a Mazda RX-7 type. And to get his car in green, not black.
As soon as Syaoron entered the building, Gino walked over to the car. DC-2 generation Integra, with the Japanese facelift big headlights. Despite that, however, it was a left hand drive example and, judging by the letter E in place of the hiragana character on the lower left of the license plate, it was only temporarily in Japan. Did he bring it from Hong Kong? Still , it resembles more…
He then brought his attention to the numbers. 63-910; apparently it had the same five-number standard as used in Initial D.
But that’s not where you’re from, are you?
His phone rang, and he pulled it out. It was Johnson’s number, and he answered. “Hello?”
“Mr. Scribetto? If you’re not busy, I’d like you to come to my office.”
“Sure. Does it have anything to do with the fact the guy in front of you came here with KITT’s uncanonical little sister?”
Johnson laughed. “I’m afraid it does.”
***
Nkki snuggled against Sergio’s chest, her eyes closed. “Let’s stay like this a bit more. The bags can still wait.”
“I know, but we’ll need to make dinner sooner or later.”
“We can order delivery so-”
A phone rang, and Nikki recognized Sergio’s ringtone. He reached out, but she grabbed his arm. “Don’t even think about answering. It’s our-”
Vanguard started ringing as well, and Sergio sighed. “This sounds important, what do you think?”
They both sat up, and Nikki glared at the two electronic devices ringing and flashing on the coffee table. “Business as usual, then?”
“That’s what us heroes get, I’m afraid.”
***
Sergio walked into the briefing room, Nikki in tow. The room was pretty much packed – Skystreaker, Haro and Razgriz squadrons in full, all of his relatives, and even Hayate and some of the Wolfram’s crew.
Shit, this must be something big. Here goes our vacation…
He looked for an empty seat, and there were two in the first row between Corolla and Kathleen. He walked over and sat next to his sister, Nikki taking the other seat.
“Any idea of what’s going on?”
“No clue, but we kept two of the best seats for our favorite couple,” Corolla said. “I just hope you had enough time to have some fun.”
“Shut up.”
“We’re really meaning it,” Kathleen added. “Your soap opera should’ve ended a few seasons ago.”
Sergio opened his mouth for a retort, but right at that moment Johnson entered, quickly followed by Gino, Syaoron and a girl with black hair and glowing red eyes Sergio found familiar.
Who is she… Wait, no way!
She smiled at him. “Glad to see you still up and kicking, rookie.”
Nikki leaned towards him. “Who is she?”
“Believe it or not, that’s the one who recruited me into the PPC.”
Johnson took position at the holographic screen. “I’m sorry about summoning you all in such a hurry, but we just got some very important intel which Strike Dove has to address as soon as possible. These are Agents Arumi Knight and Syaoron Li from the Protectors of the Plot Continuum, an interdimensional organization I believe most of you have already heard about, and for which Captain Turbo, First Lieutenant Corolla and First Lieutenant Cherryflower worked. I’ll leave the rest of the exposition to you, Miss Knight.”
“Thank you. Let’s see…” Arumi said as a folder opened on the holographic window. “First of all, I’m Arumi, the one who’s actually a car. Kiddo here is Syaoron, some of you know him already, he’s currently some kind of fusion between the kiddo I recruited fifteen years ago and the kiddo from the Colonel here’s world. He’s still a good kiddo.”
Arumi and Syaoron’s PPC ID cards appeared on the screen. Arumi’s ID card actually held two photos: one with her current appearance, and one of a black Honda Integra with KITT’s scanner bar.
“So, as you might’ve heard from my former colleagues over there, my organization used to keep the multiverse safe, but this time we failed and everything fell apart. I’m real sorry about it, but please don’t be too hard with us. We really tried.
“Me, Kiddo, a few Weeds from the Department of External Security and a small bunch of agents from other departments are, as far as we know, most of what’s left of all the PPC and its alternates. We’re trying to get hold of as many survivors as we can, but with a war out there it hasn’t been so easy. In fact, Kiddo here took a while to ascertain that the Sergio, Nikki and Corolla over there were the ones relevant to us.”
Arumi leaned over to Syaoron, a hand over her mouth. “Did you really have to get that intimate with her to be sure, though?” she whispered, low enough that Sergio only barely heard her.
Next to him, Nikki sank in her chair.
“That’s not important now!” Syaoron shouted, his cheeks flushed. “Anyways… What she was getting at is, we are barely scraping by. Only one of our bosses actually made it here in this world, and he needs help.”
Another PPC ID card appeared, this time featuring the photo of a giant dandelion.
Captain Dandy? He’s alive?
“The giant sentient telepathic capital-F Flower here is Captain Dandy, the DES’ Department Head,” Arumi explained. “Good news, he’s still alive and reasonably well. Bad news, he’s a prisoner in Belka. Alongside someone who might be of interest to you guys.”
Another photo appeared, of a blonde guy whose adorned outfit screamed “royalty.”
“This is Prince Frederick of Bedwig, current head figure of the Principality of Belka,” Johnson said. “Or, at least, that’s what they still want us to believe. He hasn’t made a public appearance since before this war, and this intel suggests that a coup d’etat, likely by the so-called ‘Grey Men,’ actually happened. This faction is the one that orchestrated the Circum-Pacific War in their world to exact revenge on the nations that had defeated Belka fifteen years earlier, and there is no doubt this war is also their doing in a bid to turn Belka into a world power by crushing the only other vaguely intact nation of this continent.”
“As for Prince Frederick, we don’t know much about him, but apparently he was trying to promote policies based around peaceful collaboration with other countries,” Scribetto added. “I doubt he would’ve approved a war of aggression, no wonder the Grey Men wanted him out of the picture. Reinstating him is our best bet to end this war.”
Arumi nodded. “And that’s why we’re here. Rescuing them would benefit everyone, on both sides of this war and beyond. I hope this is a goal you’re willing to pursue for the good of the world, ‘cause… Well, we don’t really have the funds to officially hire you guys otherwise.”
“Of course we’re helping. Unfortunately, this is not something we can convince the NATO brass to support us on, so we’ll be going through unofficial channels to prepare this operation,” Johnson continued. “Commander Yagami of the TSAB already offered us the support of the Wolfram, which will once again be our airborne aircraft carrier. We’re also opening an unofficial diplomatic channel with the Clow Kingdom through First Lieutenant Cherryflower’s family, so hopefully they’ll agree for us to set up staging ground there. This will be a death or glory operation, I’m afraid, which means we’ll mobilize everything for it.
“Skystreaker and Razgriz squadrons will of course spearhead the operation. Agents Knight and Li have volunteered to take part in the operation as well, so they’ll assist the Skystreakers as they break into Stier Castle.”
“Stier Castle?” Snow asked. “That’s where we rescued President Harling from!”
“And your knowledge of the area will be invaluable. The location is deep into Belka itself, so the operation is on hold until we have enough fifth-generation Variable Fighters available, but at the same time we should act as soon as possible. Mr Scribetto?”
Gino rubbed his chin. “We can get four VF-25s and three VF-31s to combat grade in ten days, but for the rest we’re missing too many parts – we’re looking at four weeks to get one more of each.”
“Those seven will have to do. First Lieutenant Minase, First Lieutenants Keiko and Hajime Turbo, Petty Officer Leone, you are now officially assigned to Haro Squadron. You’ll resume combat flight training under Captain Shirogane to be our backup unit equipped with the Gundams and VF-0 Phoenixes, and will escort the Wolfram while the operation is underway. I know this is sudden, but I’m confident in your talent.”
Sergio took a deep breath. If he even involved the school-aged girls, it was really an all-in. But he could see why – if their plan worked, the war would be over.
***
“So, you’re pretty much royalty now?” Kathleen asked, her left eyebrow raised.
“Kinda. King Fujitaka of Clow and my father recognized that their families are alternate universe versions of each other, and so we’re relatives of sorts,” Nikki explained. “But my family agreed to not be part of the succession line.”
Kathleen crossed her arms. “This is still wild. From Magical Girl to fighter pilot and then even royalty? You sure are climbing up, Nikki.”
“To be fair, she never asked for any of it,” Sergio said. “Things just kinda keep happening to us.”
“Yeah, I know. By the way, now that you two are together again, you should also give Ami some love.” Kathleen smirked. “Or I’m going to swipe her off you when you least expect it.”
Faith tugged at her sleeve, an uncharacteristic pout on her face. “Kath…”
Sergio sighed. “If it gets you off us, the plan is to all go live together. Me, Nikki, Ami, Keiko and Hajime. It will be a bit weird, but-”
Kathleen clapped her hands. “Perfect! I knew you would come around eventually. One big happy family for both of your daughters!”
“Yes, that’s the idea,” Nikki said. “But, even then, we don’t plan on-”
“Tell me when you buy a home, ‘cause the king size bed is on me. Gotta make sure the three of you can sleep together comfortably.”
Sergio and Nikki both facepalmed.
***
“And that’s one thing sorted out!” Corolla shouted as he finished removing the masking paper from the Wave Gundam’s new arms.
Kathleen crossed her arms as she looked at the finished work. The new arms were nothing like the Wave Gundam’s original ones, or the one that had been salvaged from the Belkan transforming mecha. The shoulder armor was much bulkier, and attached to the forearms were long, arcuated sheats. A small consolation was in the fact Corolla had agreed to change the robot’s green trim to purple.
“I’m telling you, I like the paint scheme and I appreciate very much that it is symmetrical now. But those arms are really ugly.”
Corolla shrugged. “Well, that’s not how I would’ve designed them either. But what little manufacturing ability I have here is already booked to get as many Galahads and Blazes as we can in time, and Shiranui arms are pretty much the only ones in mass production right now.”
Kathleen nodded. “I see. I’m glad I got you to change the name on the ones you, Sergio, Nikki and Ami will be flying, though. Starlightning was just terrible.”
Corolla pouted. “It was perfect! But, yeah, Galahad works too.”
The Unison Device floated down from the arms, turning back to full-size form as she landed next to Kathleen. “Anyways, I calibrated the new arms’ actuators so you shouldn’t feel much of a difference, but you’ll have plenty of training sorties to figure it out anyways. The sheats on the arms contain a sub-arm that will bring combat knives right into the manipulators when needed – I wanted to put the beam sabers there, but getting the particle conduits there to recharge them would’ve taken too much time. The beam sabers are still in the waist armor for now.”
“Gotcha. So, it is ready?”
“Of course! You’ll already be flying it in tomorrow’s training exercise!”
***
“I’m really sorry, but, you know, there’s a war going on,” Keiko said into her wristphone.
“Don’t worry about it, I understand,” Osamu said on the phone. “There’s two more qualifier races after next month’s, so we can always have you take part in the later ones. Stay safe out there.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on getting myself killed. Bye!”
Keiko closed the call and turned towards her father. “And that’s done. Hopefully they won’t worry too much, since I told them I’m just doing logistical support and not flying a transforming mecha.”
Sergio nodded. “Hopefully you won’t have to fight anyway, from what I understood the Wolfram will launch us from NATO-controlled territory so Haro Squadron is mostly a contingency plan.”
“Yeah, especially since we’ll get, what, one week of practice?”
Sergio ruffled her hair. “It should be enough. You and Hajime pulled your own weight pretty well at Sand Island. Besides, the Phoenix is a nice machine.” He laughed. “Hajime was almost drooling when she fully realized she’s going to fly one.”
Keiko joined in his laugh. “Yeah, Sis really loves her planes. She really is your and Stepmom’s daughter.”
Sergio gave her a weirded-out stare, his eyebrow so high it nearly met his hairline. “Stepmom?”
“Well, if you think about it, that’s what Ami is to me. And Mom is kind of Hajime’s stepmother, as well.”
Sergio sighed. “This is never going to stop being weird, is it?”
“No, of course not.” Keiko shrugged. “But, hey, ‘weird things keep happening’ kinda runs in the family so I’m used to it.”
***
Hajime barrel rolled out of the gun burst of the Phoenix in front of her. She switched her own Phoenix to Battroid mode and gripped the gunpod tightly.
She took aim and squeezed the trigger; the gray and aqua green Phoenix in front of her got quickly covered in blue splotches.
“That’s a kill for Blue Flight,” Hiro said over the radio. “Blue Three took out Red Two.”
“Damn it, Thunderbolt.” Keiko grumbled. “I thought I had you this time.”
“Lightning to Tsunami, I think we’ll need to work a bit on your aim later.”
The radar warning on Hajime’s Phoenix blared, and she turned the aircraft back to fighter mode to get her speed up again as the Silent Raptor chased her.
She turned right hard, but it was to no avail. The radar warning turned into the missile warning, then “FATAL HIT RECEIVED” appeared on her HUD.
“Blue Three down, Red One hit her. Red Flight wins the engagement,” Hiro said.
Hajime sighed. She didn’t expect to last long against her father, but less than ten seconds? That was embarrassing.
***
“By waiting too long before switching back to Fighter mode, you left an open window for Sergio to close in before you could build up enough momentum for an effective evasive maneuver,” Hiro explained as he pointed at the triangle labeled “THUNDERBOLT” on the debriefing projection.
Ami watched as her daughter dutifully took notes. “I’m afraid she’s a bit like me, we both tend to fly flat.”
“Nothing that can’t be worked on,” Sergio reassured her. “Like Keiko’s aim, a bit of practice will fix that. They did pretty well, all considered.”
Hiro turned off the projector. “I agree, but I’m afraid we don’t have much time. The operation is four days from now, two of which will be of travel and set-up.”
“I know,” Sergio agreed. “Corolla’s working around the clock to get the new Variable fighters ready in time, but I’m afraid we’ll be flight-testing them during the transfer itself. That’s… not exactly ideal. But since we don’t know the condition the Prince and Captain Dandy are kept in, or the plans the Grey Men have for them, we can’t afford to lose a single day.”
Ami couldn’t help but agree. They were putting a big burden on their own shoulders, and on those of Hajime, Keiko, Ai and Kathleen, but they had no choice.
“Actually, I think I heard that the aircraft for Skystreaker Squadron were pretty much ready,” Hiro said. “But… I guess Corolla wanted to keep them a surprise.”
“Don’t say anything more, Hiro,” Kathleen shouted back at him. “It is a surprise.”
***
“So…” Sergio said as he stared at the closed doors of one of Tomoeda Field’s hangars. “Is it just me, or has Corolla decided to go full dramatic revelation for this?”
“No, I think you have a point.” Nikki pointed at the aircraft parked outside. The hangar had been pretty much emptied, there was no doubt.
Ami crossed her hands behind her back. “Still, I’m curious to see how the Kairos look in their final spec!”
Sergio laughed. “Yeah, same. And I’m not against her having fun with the presentation, really. It should be any time no-”
The hangar doors opened, and Sergio shielded his eyes. The inside of the hangar was brightly lit – from what he could see, some mobile spotlights were parked inside, all on at full blast. The floor of the hangar had been completely cleaned, as well, to the point it was reflecting the already blinding light.
Just as he was about to call for it, the lights dimmed. Corolla was standing in the middle, surrounded by three VF-31A Kairos sporting variants of his Phoenix’ livery. The one in the middle had red trim, likely the one that was going to be assigned to him. The one on the left had light blue trim, and the one on the right had lilac trim instead. Corolla and Ami’s, likely.
Or, at least, he assumed them to be VF-31As – he noticed right away that the wingtip had been modified to feature missile rails.
“Welcome to the aircraft reveal for Skystreaker Squadron!” Corolla shouted, outstretching her arms. “This is the day I officially surpassed Shoji Kawamori! At least in aircraft design, still working on race car design.”
Sergio raised an eyebrow. “Corolla, you just repaired them.”
She waved her finger no. “And that’s where you are all mistaken! How could I just be content with repairing them? Any resemblance between these aircraft and the VF-31A Kairos is purely superficial.”
Corolla walked over to the one with blue trim and “030” on the side of the cockpit, and patted one of its leg nacelles. “First of all, these beauties are equipped with dual Minotaur Drive Turbines in place of the thermonuclear turbines. Which means they’ll leave a regular Kairos in the dust, and plenty of power for the other systems. The Energy Conversion Armor still isn’t as strong as the Destiny Gundam’s Phase Shift Armor, but we’re getting there.”
“That’s good news!” Ami said. “It means that-”
“But I’m not done yet!” Corolla waltzed under a wing, and pointed at the pylons. “Not only have we got our usual rails from the Ace Combat universe, but with Robin’s help I adapted a few tricks from her universe that allow up to three different special weapons to be carried at once! Gone are the days of having to choose between an air-to-air or air-to-ground loadout! Between that, and the original weapon systems of the aircraft, we’ll be armed to the teeth!”
Sergio couldn’t help but smile. Corolla’s excitement was contagious, and she appeared to have done an excellent job of what until a couple weeks earlier were just some run-of-the-mill damaged Kairos.
“Mine here, 030, is equipped with the folding radar dish in place of the multipurpose container so I can’t carry a gunpod unless I sacrifice some pylons, but Ami’s 029 is equipped with the Support Assault Cannon, the sniper version of the Assault Cannons used by the Shiranuis, and for Sergio’s 028 I surpassed myself!”
She ran between the engines of the red-trimmed aircraft, and Sergio followed her. At first, the gunpod looked like the sleek beam gunpod of the Siegfried, but at the tip he could clearly see four gun barrels poking out.
“GPU-36/A, housing a GAU-13/36 four barrel rotary cannon. Basically, an upscaled version of the original GAU-13/A used by the Phoenix chambered for the same 36mm round of the Assault Cannons.”
Sergio whistled. “That’s some serious firepower. And you managed to have all of this done in just a few days? That’s insane.”
Corolla puffed her chest. “Never underestimate me! Of course, the multipurpose containers on your planes aren’t there just to hold the gunpods, but they also contain spare ammo for them. Reloading of Assault Cannons will be handled by the same sub–arms as used by the Shiranui, but for the GPU-36/C I designed a direct feed chute. While the gunpod itself does have two standard Type-87 magazines, when it is attached to the container it is continuously restocked by it.”
Nikki sighed. “I hope at least you are getting enough sleep…”
“Anyways, the other three are coming along nicely, but as of now these three are already combat grade. Which means it is time to officially reveal their name!”
Corolla opened a large holographic window that hovered over them, reading “CorollaWorks SF-32 Galahad.”
Ami blinked. “You went so far as to change their designation?”
“Of course! If Xaos renamed Delta Flight’s customs ‘Siegfried,’ I can name ours whatever I want!” Corolla fidgeted. “Well, to a point. I originally wanted to call them ‘Starlightning,’ but Kath vetoed it.”
“I can see why. Naming them after me and Sergio doesn’t really sound appropriate,” Nikki said.
“Anyways, Galahad 028, Sergio’s, is currently set up as a SF-32S, the flight leader variant. Four laser cannons on the head turret, more sensors and antennas, the works really. Ami’s Galahad 029 is set up as the SF-32T sniper variant, so it has been tuned up to provide the stability to make best use of its sniper cannon and long range missiles. And, of course, since I’ll be flying Galahad 030 I set it up as the SF-32C electronic warfare variant. Anything our E-767 could do, the -C can do as well!”
Sergio smiled. Those aircraft were going to make things a lot easier. “Looks like we now have an entire squadron of ace customs.”
“And the Razgriz will, as well, since I’ve turned the VF-25 Messiah into the SF-26 Blaze! Oh, and you’ve not seen the flight suits yet!” Corolla said. “Well, they’re the same kind Nikki was using with the Kairos really. But I managed to have them made in each one’s signature colors!”
Sergio gulped. “No skin tight suits for me, please.”
***
“Stay still for one second!” Kathleen shouted as the red-trimmed mecha in front of her just accelerated out of her sights.
Sergio laughed. “I’m sorry, Lowroar, but it wouldn’t be a good test if I did.”
“But it’s not fair! Your mecha is faster than my mecha!”
“HIT RECEIVED” appeared on her HUD, and she pouted. “I’m the elder one, I should have priority over the nice stuff.”
“Except I’ll be the one spearheading things out there.” Sergio grumbled.
“Thank Aunt Virgilia for that. You know she would kill Gramps if anything happened to me. She already made a fuss over me being the backup.”
“FATAL HIT RECEIVED” appeared on the HUD, and Kathleen crossed her arms. “Doesn’t mean I should be given the scraps though.”
Sergio laughed. “Come on, that’s still a fine Mobile Suit. And I’m pretty sure Corolla is already thinking of ways to improve it.”
***
Corolla sat on her workbench as she started reviewing the flight data from the SF-26 Blaze. “So, replacing the shield with a Multipurpose Container didn’t affect the center of gravity too much, as I expected.”
“If it did, the flight computer didn’t let me feel it anyway,” Nikki admitted as she sat next to her. “It flew exactly the same way it did with the shield.”
Nikki glanced at the aircraft in front of her. Their VF-25s – now named SF-26 Blazes – were pretty much ready as well. She was flight-testing the first one, which was actually sporting her own Skystreaker Squadron livery with white trim.
“That’s great!” Corolla shouted. “As such, the Blaze’s final configuration is cleared. I guess we can give it the Razgriz’ paint job then.”
Nikki nodded. After all, it wasn’t going to be her aircraft – one of the Galahad still under modification was. I’m quite surprised she bothered with having this Blaze painted in my colors… wouldn’t it be a waste of time?
Corolla opened up a holographic window and tapped some instructions in it. Like magic, the aircraft changed color – black replaced the aircraft gray base, the hexagonal snow camo disappeared, and the white trim was replaced by the smaller red trim of Razgriz Squadron. The insignia changed to the right one as well, with her aircraft number, 04, replaced by Snow’s 221.
Nikki blinked her eyes. How did Corolla manage it?
“I love Macross tech,” Corolla said. “Believe me or not, the color change feature is actually canon.”
“… I see.”
“By the way, it’s not gonna be ready in time for the next operation, but I took the liberty of making a special configuration for you,” Corolla continued as she passed the holographic window over to Nikki. “This is the SF-32N, close range combat setup specially geared towards you. I took the liberty of asking Makina to borrow some of the parts they use in the Siegfrieds.”
Nikki blinked again. “You’re in contact with Xaos?”
“Kinda. I’m more of a member of the Girl Mechanical Geniuses Society.” Corolla put her hands on her sides proudly. “Once this war is over, I’m gonna help Sunny with her latest SSTO, and Penny’s latest robotics project is…”
Nikki could do nothing but stare as Corolla went off boasting about the works of the members. Was Sunny actually Sunny Emmerich, the one from the Metal Gear universe? And Penny sounded like she could be the one from Inspector Gadget…
“Corolla… Is this how you managed to get all this stuff done?” Nikki asked, interrupting her tangent.
Corolla fidgeted. “Maybe?”
“You… you went and recruited girl engineers from all over the multiverse?”
“Well… more like we all love a challenge.”
***
“The Phoenix is so cool!” Hajime said as she changed out of her flight suit. “It’s a plane, and a mecha, and I’m flying it!”
“It’s a whole week you’ve been repeating it,” Keiko said. “You weren’t this excited when you met Nanoha and Fate, and that time I had to restrain you from glomping on them.”
Ami laughed. “I might’ve been a bad influence.”
Hajime fidgeted. “Well, I did grow up surrounded by Lyrical Nanoha and Ace Combat…”
Ami gulped at Keiko’s accusatory glance. “Guilty as charged?”
Keiko opened her mouth to say something, but she was bumped into by Ai as the latter headed towards the door in a hurry, still buttoning up her dress uniform’s jacket.
“Whoa, slow down,” Keiko managed in the end. “What’s the hurry?”
“The Wolfram will be here soon, so they’re gonna need help managing the loading of aircraft, ammo and supplies,” Ai explained.
Keiko raised her eyebrow. “Yeah, I guess making sure we don’t get accidentally sent out without planes or ammo is pretty high on the priority list, but I don’t think you really need to run people over for it.”
Ami nodded. Keiko had said it a bit too roughly, but she had a point. “Even if you’re a couple minutes late, nothing bad will happen. You’ve just finished another training session, people will understand. Take care of yourself before you take care of others!”
“I understand.” Ai took a deep breath and smiled. “Skystreaker Five, Mermaid, heading out safely! See you later!”
Ami laughed, soon joined by the other girls.
***
Hiro leaned on the railing of the main base building’s rooftop.
Am I up to it?
Sure, he had been Haro Squadon’s flight leader since he was recruited. But the truth was, he never really had to do much in the way of leading. He had a wingman only twice, and lately with the combined Skystreaker-Haro formation he was basically a wingman himself.
And now, I have been entrusted with the Colonel’s youngest relatives.
“Something on your mind?” someone said from behind. Hiro recognized Ami’s voice, and turned around.
“Sorry for intruding, but we were wondering where you had ended up,” Ami said as she walked towards him. “So I thought that maybe I would find you here.”
Hiro took a deep breath. “I admit I’m a bit nervous.”
Ami nodded. “We all are, trust me. If we succeed, we’re gonna make history – that’s a lot of weight on our shoulders!”
Hiro averted his eyes. “It’s not just that. In fact, I’m just the backup. But… I hope I can live up to the trust you’re giving me. Your daughter, her sister, Sergio’s sister, Ai… I have to keep them all safe. But I’m just a test pilot.”
Ami leaned on the railing as well. “But you’re one of us. The fact you’re worrying about it tells me you’ll do anything to make sure Haro Squadron will come back in one piece.” She laughed. “If you’re worried about being too much of an outsider, don’t. Even I felt like an outsider at first with Sergio, Nikki and Corolla, but that was never true!”
Ami put a hand on his shoulder. “If we put the girls in Haro Squadron, it’s because we know we can trust you with them. You’re a great pilot, and a great friend. And, besides, I’m sure they won’t give you any problems. You already fought alongside Hajime and Keiko, right?”
Hiro gave a nod. “Yes, that is true. I might’ve been worrying too much.”
He took a deep breath, and glanced at his Destiny Gundam as it was wheeled onto the Wolfram’s loading ramp. Our time to make destiny, right?
Yes, Syaoron is one and the same not just with the one featured in Mai Dire Fine, but also with the one featured in Huinesoron’s Apples & Oranges series set in Reorganization times, marking another “character merger” like Ami’s having happened.
And, of course with summer having officially started, it’s time for the Totally Canon Accurate Beach Fanservice! This time a less crowded version, featuring the two new cast additions alongside my core four characters.
Nikki has been chosen to perform the anime summer tradition of splitting the watermelon with a stick while blindfolded. Or an energy sword, in this case. And, for those wondering, Arumi is not planning to scuba dive. She’s just wary of salt water and sand, and so decided to go with a full wetsuit for extra protection.
So, a little announcement first. Unfortunately, due to work-related reasons, Aelit doesn’t have the time to partecipate in TWWA directly anymore (and has actually been like this for a while). While he’s still my sounding board for ideas and feedback on how I’m using his characters, I’ve been writing the chapters by myself for a while so I felt obliged to make that known.
That way, you’ll know that if something’s jumbled up somewhere that’s 100% my fault. Still, many thanks to Aelit for what he’s contributed so far, and for still saving up time to hear me out on the Plans!
And, of course, many thanks also to Doctorlit for his irreplaceable betaing services!
Mission Record 17 – New Wings
Nikki walked towards Tomoeda Field’s hangars. Her plan was originally to enter the main building instead, but there was a large amount of trucks parked in front of the hangars and she was quite curious at the commotion.
She spotted Corolla and Ai, and walked over to them. They were looking at something in a holographic window just as the wingless fuselage of an aircraft was being offloaded by a crane, its thin wings still tied on the truck’s trailer.
“Okay, this one will be DV 022.” Corolla said. “It has working engines, which is good, but it needs new linear actuators for the transformation system. We’ll be taking them off DV 020 for now.”
Ai started tapping in some notes. “So… It goes on the ‘to be serviced’ list. I’m adding another set of actuators to the order draft for Sugo.”
“Hello.” Nikki greeted them. “Did we get some new planes?”
“Nikki! I had almost lost hope of seeing you anywhere near the apron!” Corolla said as she tackled her in a hug.
“Slow down. I don’t think I’m back to being a combat pilot. Not anytime soon, at least.” She smiled. “But if I can be of any help any other way, I’m happy to.”
Corolla squeezed her even tighter. “That’s what I wanted to hear from you!”
“I know you’re happy, but I need to breathe!” Nikki said amid laughter. “So, what did I miss?”
Corolla released her, and showed her the aircraft with a wide sweeping gesture. “Well, we managed to prevent a Macross-verse ship from falling into Belkan hands, so they let us keep some of the aircraft inside for ourselves.” She pouted. “Whoever was in charge of selecting the airframes Strike Dove was to get was a bit cheeky about this, so they kept the flight ready ones and dumped the ones needing work to us. But still, that’s six VF-25A Messiah and six VF-31A Kairos all for us to keep. Once they’re fixed up, Skystreaker and Razgriz squadrons will be both equipped with fifth-gen Variable Fighters, with spare airframes to finally set up a good maintenance rotation.”
Ai attached sheets with “DV 022” written with a marker to the offloaded aircraft and its wings “Isn’t it gonna take some time until they’re flight ready, though?”
“Yeah I know.” Corolla’s shoulders slumped. “We’ve got our work cut out, especially… Wait.”
She turned towards Nikki. “You have problems with flying in combat, not with flying at all, right?”
“Hmm… Yes, that’s right. I admit it, I got some flying thanks to Sakura a couple days ago.”
Her mind went back to that afternoon. Sakura had used two of those new transparent cards she had been creating, Flight and Mirror, to try to cheer her up.
And it had worked – flying free in the sky, only with her body, feeling the wind on her face… she had missed that feeling.
“Then I think I have the right job for you. See, these Variable Fighters will need a lot of testing before being cleared for combat. They have many unserviceable or outright missing parts, and we’re going to literally have our own custom replacement parts built. Alongside adding our own stuff like the Neuro Linker-based Full Immersion Control System, of course.
“As you can guess, that takes time, and we’re struggling to keep up with everything. Us combat pilots have our sorties, while the younger girls have school to attend. We could really use a dedicated pilot to take care of the flight testing, especially one with combat experience. There might be some shooting, yeah, but only against dummy targets ”
Nikki’s eyes widened – it was a dream. Fly, without fighting. “So you’re telling me…”
“That you can go back being Skystreaker Four without having to kill anyone again, ever. So, what do you think?”
For Nikki it was a no-brainer. By making sure they could get the new aircraft in the air as soon as possible, she would be helping Sergio, Corolla and Ami from home without shedding a drop of blood herself. “Of course I’m in! I might need to work a bit more on my muscles, but…” Nikki turned towards Ai. “Is your offer to go swimming together still valid?”
“Of course! We even finished cleaning up the pool!”
Nikki blinked. “We have a pool?”
“Yeah. Apparently this used to be some kind of private airfield for rich people, so it used to have all the bells and whistles like hookers and blackjack.” Corolla looked up in thought. “Well, I’m not sure they actually had hookers, but we did find a blackjack table in a storeroom.”
***
“Glad to hear you’re back among the reasonable people, Mom.” Keiko said in her wristphone.
“I’m really sorry, Kei. I didn’t realize I was walking down a dead end alley until I hit my head on the wall.”
“I would’ve liked it more if that wall wasn’t Syaoron’s bed, but hey, everyone makes their mistakes.”
“… You’ve taken it surprisingly well.”
“No, I didn’t. But let’s say that Hajime’s judo throw put a quick end to both my tantrum and my murderous instincts. Trust me, sis’ a sweetie but she can lay down the smackdown.”
Nikki laughed. “You really are as impulsive as your father, aren’t you?”
“That’s what everyone keeps telling me, though I think I might actually be worse. He didn’t punch anyone about it… unless he’s letting out his frustration on Belkan fighters, that is. By the way, I take it that I have a full family once again?”
Nikki sighed. “About that… gimme a bit more time. You know, I don’t feel like waltzing up to your father and telling him ‘let’s be a couple again’ right away like nothing had happened.”
“Oh, I see. Gotta make sure you don’t have any more of Syaoron’s love juice inside you first, am I right?”
“Keiko!” Nikki screamed. “… We used condoms, by the way.”
“Condoms? Plural? Wow, you really were longing for some action.”
“Oh, you… I’m not getting any mercy, am I?”
Keiko smiled. “Nope. I’m making sure you know that if you cheat on Dad you’re never hearing the end of it. And no, ‘I had dumped him’ doesn’t count as a justification to me.”
In the corner of her eye Keiko saw Sugo’s pit crew push a car towards the pit lane. Time for the second phase of her audition. “Let’s meet up later, Mom. I’m afraid it’s time for my own testing of super fast transforming vehicles.”
“Bye then. Good luck!”
“Thank you. Bye!” Keiko closed the call and walked over to Osamu. “Sorry if I ran away, but I had some family business going on.”
“Don’t worry, Keiko, we needed some time to prepare the car anyway. It hasn’t run in a while after all.”
Keiko glanced at the car. At the front, it was remarkably similar to the Asurada AKF-0, with the main difference being its rims being equipped with white aerodynamic covers. The rear of the car, though, was completely different – it didn’t have fenders over the rear wheels, with the boosters placed over the engine cowling instead. Huge wings extended outward from the boosters, angled upwards by thirty degrees. On the upper surfaces, attached to the endplates, there were boxy ducts – did they place some radiators on the wings?
“This is the Super Asurada SA-01C, the updated version of the 2015 SA-01 we used in the first half of the 2016 season. That was six years ago for us, so as you can guess this is quite the outdated car, but is still much faster than anything you’ve driven so far. It can get up to six hundred kilometers per hour, and it is also equipped with ground effect fans in the underbody.”
Keiko nodded. “Yes, Claire explained a few things to me. I gotta say that, I was quite surprised that active aero is legal in Cyber Formula. I’m not complaining, though.”
“Good to hear. Anyways, the car is currently not equipped with a cybernavigation system – Asurada is currently installed on the AKF-0/G chassis, and besides he was programmed to only accept one driver, which ended up being Hayato.”
“So, basically, no road indications for me?”
“Aside from that, the car won’t automatically adapt its setup to track conditions and your driving style – that was also handled by the cybernavigation system as well. It will be more delicate to drive, but after seeing you drive that thing I have no doubts you’ll manage.”
Keiko put her helmet on. “Let’s get started, then.”
***
Faith looked Nikki straight in the eyes. “So, you’re absolutely sure? A relapse is still likely. We can’t be sure you won’t have a flashback when you least expect it… and I think you know better than I do how dangerous it would be in flight.”
“Trust me, Faith. Since we arrived here, I just kept piling up mistakes. I know what I really want to do now… I know that I can do something.”
To Nikki’s relief, Faith’s stern expression melted into a smile. “Alright, then. I can hear that your determination is sincere. Still, I’d like for you to continue having check-ups with me, and also continue the sessions with the therapist. At least until we’re really sure the crash is indeed behind you.”
“Of course. The first step is taking care of myself, isn’t it?”
Faith laughed. “Exactly. That’s what I wanted to hear!”
***
Kathleen walked over to where Gino and Corolla were taking down an actuator from one of the new planes. “Gotta hand it to you, Sergio Author. You were right, somehow the realization she cheated on Sergio snapped her awake. Your characters are wired weird, you know?”
Gino set down the actuator on a workbench and pointed at Corolla. “She might take offense, you know? But yes, that’s Nikki – if she realizes she’s hit rock bottom, she’ll roll her sleeves up and start climbing. In a way, what happened that night was good – it meant she hit the bottom much earlier than I thought, so she came back up before she estranged herself completely.”
Corolla pumped up her fists. “Mission accomplished, then?”
“Not yet, I’m pretty sure it will take some time before she’s actually going to make up with Sergio. But I dare say that if we manage to give her this Kairos to play with soon enough, things can only go well.”
Kathleen pouted. “Said that way, it sounds like it can become a death flag.”
Gino chuckled. “Corolla, what do we do to death flags?”
“We rip them apart! There’s a reason why pineapple-based dishes are banned here.”
Kathleen raised an eyebrow. “Pineapples? What did they do to you?”
“They’re apparently a bad omen to Variable Fighter pilots. Two dead, one gravely injured. Out of three recorded cases.”
***
Keiko turned into the last hairpin. Compared to the Stormer, the Super Asurada felt like it was on rails – it had one and half times the power, but it also was on six slicks and had massive amounts of downforce.
She gave throttle gradually once she was past the corner’s apex – even with that amount of grip, she could still spin out if she was too aggressive with the power.
It is alright though – it means I can play with the throttle to get some slip angle if I want to.
Once on the straight, she flicked the lever to switch the car to Aero mode. She grabbed the booster lever on her right while the fenders unfolded in front of her. Pull down to unlock and activate the boosters, push forward to give power.
The car jolted forward, pushing her against the seat’s backrest. The screen in the middle of the steering wheel turned into a countdown, and the small HUD screen acting as a speedometer shot past five hundred kilometers per hour as she went past the finish line, continuing to climb eagerly until it was a few kilometers past six hundred.
She entered the first corner, a long banking turn, without slowing down. The car kept the line she chose, but she felt like a giant hand was trying to flatten her.
It feels like that time I was backseating on Mom’s plane! Next time I’ll bring a flight suit…
The countdown was closing to zero, and Keiko pulled the lever back. The boosters were also acting as giant turbochargers for the main engine, which meant overuse would blow the engine up.
She shifted the car back to Circuit mode and braked hard for the following corner, the seatbelts almost digging in her shoulders. Wow, if it wasn’t for the seatbelts, I would’ve gone splat against the canopy! Then again, I’m slowing down from frigging six hundred. Now I get why this thing has two front axles…
Despite everything, she couldn’t help but smile. It was the craziest racing car she had ever seen, and she was driving it with no trouble.
***
Nikki swam underwater toward the end of the pool. Once she reached the end, she flipped around and kicked the wall to get going in the other direction.
Her body floated weightless as she swam – like flying. Almost without realizing it, she reached the other end of the pool. She surfaced, breathing deeply.
“Wow, you really must’ve done a lot of underwater swimming,” Ai said, sitting on the edge of the pool with her legs in the water. “Even without turning into a mermaid, you managed to make a full trip without coming up for air.”
Nikki lifted herself out of the pool, and sat next to her. “I’ve always had good lungs, but I admit I also have quite a bit of practice. You know, the magical powers I had originally – the cards my sister Sakura has – had one that allowed me to fly… I really loved that. I eventually lost my own set of cards, but I found out that diving underwater feels a bit like that. So, yes, I’ve ended up practicing my breathholding a lot.”
“I see. I admit I’ve never done much diving myself. The swimming club in my school was more about competitive swimming, after all. Still, I would’ve expected you to use your mermaid transformation ability more?”
Nikki laughed. “Actual mermaids weren’t really mundane in my world – they existed, sure, but it wasn’t common knowledge. So I could use it only far out at sea with no one watching, really. In a pool like this one, I had no choice but to rely on my lungs.”
“Oh, right, I hadn’t thought of that.”
Nikki looked up in thought. “With this world being what it is, I guess that’s no longer a problem… assuming I can make it work again.”
Ai blinked. “Eh? You can’t transform now?”
“Haven’t been able to since the crash… but, then again, last time I tried I was still recovering. Still, I’m gonna wait until I get my Device back before trying again, it does a lot to help with my magic… and there’s still that life support spell I had used on you at Sand island, as well, so I’m not too worried. That, a monofin, and I’m back into business.” She laughed. “I can even buy a full mermaid costume if I want to. What about you, though? I thought you would’ve joined the swimming club at the new school too.”
Ai looked up. “I actually didn’t feel like it. You know… I do like swimming, but I admit I joined the swimming club because I wanted… a ‘thing’. Something to stand out a bit. I liked it there, and the captain of the club eventually saw me as her successor, but… in the end I started feeling too self-conscious about it.” She laughed. “I was quick, but I always messed up in competitions. I never set a decent official time.”
Nikki blinked. So that dream I had while I was hospitalized, with us acing the competitions… it was completely wrong!
“My school was an all-girls one, but the principal had this weird idea of enrolling her nephew to make sure we would not be too wary of boys once we graduated. He was so a fish out of water, avoided by everyone, that I couldn’t help but try to be friends with him. I thought… maybe that could be the ‘thing’.”
“Your boyfriend, I assume?”
“Yes, but of course he isn’t a ‘thing’… he was a very nice boy. But, well, you can guess how I felt when I found myself here all of a sudden. When your friends rescued me, I was desperate to be helpful, and… to be fair, I also felt a bit intimidated. You were all so cool, fighting to keep everyone safe, and I was just the plainest of schoolgirls. So I thought learning to fly a fighter jet myself could be a very big ‘thing’.”
Nikki nodded. “It sure isn’t a small feat!”
“But, you know what? While I’m happy I did learn how to fly, I don’t really see it as so important now.”
Nikki raised an eyebrow. What did she mean with that?
“You took me in, asking nothing in return. I really hate freeloading on people, but… I think I got how it works here.”
Ai turned towards Nikki, smiling. “Everyone does what they can, what they’re good at, to help everyone else. You don’t have to be an ace, or have any special ‘thing’ to be welcome – we’re all friends regardless.”
Nikki nodded slowly. “That’s something I had forgotten myself…”
“That’s why I’m in the ‘going home club’ right now, because I want to keep doing my part in that time. Even if it is something as little as keeping things organized… I can do it well, and it helps everyone. So it makes me happy.”
“I wish I had realized it sooner, too.” Nikki took a deep breath. “First to the other side wins?”
Ai pumped her fists. “I won’t lose!”
***
“So, this is what I will drive tomorrow?”
Keiko walked around the car. While still outlandish, it was less extreme than the Asuradas. The front end had fenders like the Asuradas did in Aero mode, but at the back it had squared boosters halfway between the fenders and the engine cowling. The rear wings were also much simpler, looking like fins bent inwards. While it was painted in the same white and blue, the blue was taking a higher share than on the Asurada AKF/0G, and the rims were silver instead of gold.
“Yes,” Claire said. “This is the Garland SF-03/G, the car Bootswortz was driving this year. Contrary to the Asurada series of cars, which descend from the Super Asurada SA-01 designed by Hayato’s father, the Garland series was designed from the ground up by myself. It doesn’t have a variable chassis or dual stage boosters, but as a result it is lighter and more intuitive to drive.”
Keiko leaned forward to have a look in the cockpit. Even inside the car was completely different – the “head” of the cybernavigation system was of a different design, and the booster lever was on the opposite side. “Question: why are you guys at Sugo developing and fielding two completely different cars? Isn’t that, like, double the trouble?”
Claire laughed. “It is, but unfortunately there is no other way. The Asurada series is being developed with its namesake cybernavigation system and Hayato in mind – we did field a second AKF-0 chassis with a similar system in a non-championship event a couple years ago, but we decided it was better to continue fielding the Garland instead as it is easier to drive to the limit for most drivers.”
Keiko nodded. She could get behind that – sometimes she would find a very fast setup for her kart, only to end up changing it because it made keeping consistent times throughout the whole race too hard.
“Claire, everything is ready to test the new engine.”
Both Keiko and Claire turned towards the source of the voice. The lead mechanic, Pei, was leaning in, and indeed the Asurada AKF/0 was in the pit lane with its canopy open.
Keiko gave Claire a glance. “No chance I get to drive that, right?”
Claire laughed again. “You could try, but I’m afraid Asurada himself won’t let you.”
***
Nikki leaned on a workbench in front of the aircraft Strike Dove’s ground crew was focusing its efforts on.
“So, this is the first one I’m going to be a test pilot for?” she asked Corolla, who was assembling some kind of black box on the workbench.
“Exactly! This is the Surya-LAI VF-31A Kairos, basically the regular production version of the Siegfried used by Delta Flight.”
Nikki glanced at the large aircraft. Now that Corolla had mentioned it, she could see the resemblance – it had the same fuselage and inward canted tailfins. However, its canards looked bigger and the wingtips followed the triangular shape of the wing instead of being forward swept. And, of course, the Kairos was plain gray instead of sporting the vividly colored liveries of the Siegfrieds.
“It still has all the bells and whistles of a fifth-generation Variable Fighter, though. Thermonuclear turbines, energy conversion armor, inertia storage converters, internal weapon bays… this thing rocks!”
Nikki laughed. “So you finally found a toy you like?”
“I won’t deny it… especially since we decided the Kairos… Kairos-es?” Corolla glanced at Nikki, who raised her shoulders. “Anyways, they will be used by us in Skystreaker Squadron. They’re a canard-delta like the Phoenix Sergio is flying, while the VF-25 Messiah is a swing-wing which is more like the Razgriz’ Tomcats, and as such it is more suited to them.”
“I’m sure they’ll be glad, I’ve heard we were stretching pretty thin with the aircraft.”
“And we’re still going to for a while. To get the first couple working, we’re going to cannibalize parts across our fleet. The one here is Kairos 026, but we took one engine off 028, the other off 030, a few actuators off 029 and 031 and the entire left arm off 032. On top of that, we need to build our own cockpit controls from scratch since the Kairos was designed to be controlled through the Ex-Gear power suit, of which we have none and we cannot exactly buy more either. Luckily we have plenty of junked Eagles we can salvage parts off for that, but engine-wise we’re in trouble as most aircraft came with unserviceable ones. However, I believe they will still be useful to further my research on miniaturizing the Minotaur Drive!”
Nikki felt her head spinning. “Corolla, can you spare me the technical details?”
“Oh. Sorry. But rest assured that at least this one will be in working order soon!”
There was a ringing sound, and Corolla gestured talking to a phone before walking away a few steps. “Hi, Claire, what’s up… Oh… Oh. Well, if you’re still at the track, we’re coming down to review the data. Yes, see you later.”
Nikk shot her a worried glance, and Corolla waved her hands dismissively.
“Don’t worry, it’s not stuff I made that is not working! It’s stuff that I designed that is working too well!”
Before Nikki could open her mouth, Corolla was already running away, literally pulling Sergio off the ladder he was using to help work on the aircraft.. “I’m grabbing your boyfriend as well, we’ll be back later!”
“But we’re not back together yet…”
It was too late. They were already out of the hangar, surely headed towards Corolla’s new shenanigans.
***
Corolla, sitting in the cockpit of the AKF-0, started reading in one of her holographic windows part of the data she was being sent by Asurada. “Hmm… I knew the torque curve was still a bit rough, but I didn’t expect it to cause so much trouble.”
Asurada’s “head” turned towards her. “Unfortunately, that is the case. Despite my best efforts to adjust the cam timings and throttle response, Hayato wasn’t able to prevent wheelspin in most corners.The power delivery of the new engine is simply too sudden.”
Corolla scratched her head. “But I can’t get why. A 14% power increase is a lot, I agree, but from the data I was given the AKF-0 chassis should’ve been able to handle it. In fact, Claire had given me a minimum 8% increase goal over the GIO Spec-V so as to have the same horsepower as the competition.”
Sergio poked his head in. “Asurada, do you mind if I take you for a spin? I saw some of the diagrams, and I’m starting to form a theory on what’s happening, but I’d really need to feel it for myself. Possibly with both engines, to see the difference”
“That is unfortunately impossible as long as I’m installed in the car. There is only one driver registered in my system, which is Hayato Kazami. There are no more slots available. I’m sorry, but this is the security system I was built with.”
Sergio glanced at Corolla, who smiled. “I’m gonna grab my toolbox.”
***
Sergio stumbled to a chair, drinking the last of his water bottle.
Keiko kneeled next to him. “Are you alright, Dad?”
“Yes, don’t worry. Just completely beat.” He glared at the STR-03/12C equipped AKF-0. “I’m telling you, I’d rather have another go chasing Shilage than driving that thing again.”
“I’m not surprised,” Osamu said. “Driving the AKF-0 without a cybernavigation system is crazy enough – but you also did it with that monster of an engine.”
Sergio rubbed his chin. “And that’s the issue. The STR-03 was always an engine with a brutal torque curve – that’s why the Stormer was all wheel drive, it was designed around it. The only way to harness that power was by splitting it through all wheels.”
“But the AKF-0 is all wheel drive as well, so-”
“Oh, I get it!” Claire interrupted Osamu. “The Asurada’s drivetrain has a gearbox at the rear driving the rear wheels, and the EV Converter in the front to provide power to the front ones. There’s only so much power the EV Converter can take at once – the rest goes straight to the rear wheels.”
Sergio nodded. “Exactly. And that much power to the rear wheels is almost impossible to manage, especially since the car was made with another engine in mind.” He leaned back on his chair. “The AKF-0 with its original engine is sharp as a katana – but the STR-03/12C is a heavy-hitting broadsword blade. No wonder trying to put the two together meant that the AKF-0 completely lost its balance.”
“That’s what Hayato said as well, isn’t it?” Osamu said.
Claire nodded. “Yes. I’m afraid we have to go back to the drawing table. Still, having a way to be able to gather data about the current spec of the engine would help…”
Sergio looked at Corolla warily. She was already grinning hear to hear, despite her engine having been just rejected. Bad sign.
“I’m afraid someone here is already getting ideas.”
***
Nikki tried out the controls in the VF-31’s cockpit. Indeed, as Corolla had said, the throttle and stick were identical to those her Eagle used to have.
“It took a bit more than I expected, but I managed to find a way to make the throttle flickable like that of the VF-0.” Corolla said, leaning in from outside. “Try it!”
Nikki twisted her wrist, and the throttle lever bent up, becoming a second stick. She tried moving it as such, which it did. “So this is how I control it when it turns into a robot?”
“Yep, that’s it. Once you flick it, the Variable Fighter automatically turns to GERWALK mode – that’s the half-plane half-mecha intermediate form. It can take off and land like a helicopter in that mode, and the legs have full mobility so you can do some pretty crazy thrust vectoring stuff.”
Corolla pointed at a switch on the throttle, which had been relabeled “B MODE”.
“With GERWALK selected, you flick that one and it will complete the transformation into Battroid mode – the full-on mecha form. At that point, the sticks will actually be the backup control mode, as the Neuro Linker in the helmet activates and intercepts the signals from your brain to let you control the mecha as if it was your own body. Earlier models like Sergio’s Phoenix cannot sustain flight for long that way, but this? The thermonuclear turbines are so efficient in the atmosphere that the Kairos will be able to stay up for hours.”
Nikki felt eager. It sounded almost like that aircraft type was just waiting to be discovered by her. “So, when can I try it?”
“Soon. We’re waiting for the last parts from Sugo – I’m gonna admit it, I was surprised at how similar the transformation actuators for a Variable Fighter are to those of a variable chassis Cyber Formula… good old Kawamori having had a hand in both series turned out to be in our favor.”
***
Nikki gave a couple kicks to the pedals to turn the Kairos around and brought the HUD’s crosshair over one of the dummy targets in Tomoeda Field.
Well, calling it a dummy target was being generous – it was just a long wooden log propped up.
“Target locked.”
“Good. Very good!” Corolla said over the radio. “As expected, ground GERWALK maneuverability of the Kairos is way beyond the Phoenix’. Sergio always found the latter a bit clunky.”
“So… What’s next?”
“We still have enough time for a bit of Battroid mode. It will take a bit to get used to, but it should be quite intuitive.”
“Okay. Switching to Battroid mode.”
Nikki flicked the relevant switch on the throttle lever, and the Kairos transformed around her. Before she had fully realized what happened, she found herself standing and her view changed to that of the head turret. She stumbled, feeling like she was losing balance, but when she brought her arms up she saw those of the Kairos instead.
“So… I’m basically the robot itself now?”
“In a way. The Neuro Linker is intercepting the signals going from your brain to your muscles – not all of them, of course, or you wouldn’t be able to speak or even breathe. And, at the same time, it is feeding to your brain video, audio and actuator data masked in a way they’ll be interpreted as feedback from your own body.”
“I… see.”
Nikki took a few steps forward. The weight balance of the Kairos was different from her own body’s, but not enough to throw off her balance completely. It didn’t take long before she was confident enough to start running and jumping.
“Way to go, Nikki! You’re a natural! I think we can do some Battroid air maneuvering already. You can control the engine throttle with your thoughts – try it!”
Nikki blinked, which somehow did briefly interrupt the video feed. “Already? So, it works like thi-”
The engines fired up just as she willed it, sending her a few meters airborne. She felt a gentle push on her leg to position them in a different way – likely the aircraft’s flight control system suggesting how to stabilize her flight.
“I’m… flying already?”
She leaned forward a bit, and indeed she started moving in that direction. “This feels good! Feels almost the same as using my old cards!”
She spun on herself and gave full throttle. Flying so freely was an exhilarating feeling, and she started laughing without even realizing it.
***
Gino leaned against the hangar’s door as he watched the Kairos maneuver, zooming and pirouetting in the sky.
“I knew it. Welcome back, Nikki.”
***
Nikki parried a blow from the Wave Gundam with her beam saber. Technically, it was also one of the Wave Gundam’s sabers – not only did they have a training setting to avoid accidental damage, but they literally didn’t have any more available since Hiro was out on a mission with the Destiny Gundam.
“Not bad, Nikki,” Kathleen said. “I never thought you’d be into fencing, but you’re pretty good at it.”
“Thanks. When I switched to the Mid-Childan magic system, a friend gave me some lessons. As you’ve seen, my Device can turn into an energy sword too.”
Nikki ducked under another swing, and sidestepped to try to hit the Wave Gundam’s back. Kathleen turned it around, parrying barely. There was no doubt, her handling of the Kairos was improving day by day.
“I admit I thought it was a lightsaber at first. I was kinda busy chewing off your boyfriend thinking he was my world’s Sergio, but I did think, ‘Hey, is Sakura a Jedi now?’”
Nikki laughed. “Most definitely not. But the energy blade does work in a similar way – except it’s made of my own mana instead of plasma.”
Nikki sidestepped again, managing to bring the beam saber near the Wave Gundam’s “neck”. Despite not actually hitting it, the Gundam stopped moving.
“Hmpf, that would’ve chopped my head off,” Kathleen said. “That’s rude, you know?”
“Well, actually… you know that the Gundam would actually still be working? The head only contains sensors and some secondary guns, if I understood well.”
“Oh. Didn’t know. Corolla is fun, but when her explanations get too long they get boring anyways.”
Sergio tapped his foot while sitting in the Wolfram’s conference room. He glanced at the other pilots sitting at the table – besides Skystreaker Squadron, the Razgriz and the Wardogs were also there.
Hayate, Johnson and a woman with dark blue-green hair were standing near the holographic screen. Judging by the uniform and the rank of Captain, she was likely the Wardogs’ commanding officer.
“Well arrived, everyone,” Hayate said. “I suspect most of you have guessed it already, but the operation we are preparing is against the Belkan cordium production facility.”
“Originally, the plan was to involve only Skystreaker and Wardog squadrons, as their pilots already have knowledge of the situation and this is a classified operation,” Johnson continued. “However, the plant turned out to be much further beyond the front than we thought – in fact, it is actually close to the original borders of Belka. I will leave the full overview to Captain Komaki of the IJA, who is overseeing this operation.”
The woman adjusted her glasses as the satellite photo of a large, crater-like volcano appeared on the holographic screen.
“The pilot production facility has been located in this partially active volcano roughly two hundred kilometers south of the southern border of Belka. It has a large crater, but only small vents inside, which was likely considered ideal to construct the facility.”
The photo zoomed in.
“Our analysts, together with the few people with cordium knowledge, have pinpointed four locations in which we are to concentrate the attack: the main extraction tower, located over one of the vents, the refinery, and their respective storage silos. The rest of the facility can be ignored, the combined yield of the S-11 SD-Systems and ignited cordium will likely annihilate everything inside the crater.”
Sergio raised his hand. “S-11?”
“That’s the self-destruction system Tactical Surface Fighters are equipped with. It was developed to allow pilots of downed TSFs a quick and painless death if overrun by the BETA.”
And possibly take some of those alien nasties with them, I guess. Still, I hope the Wardogs aren’t supposed to do any WWII kamikaze bullshit!
“Of course, Wardog squadron is not expected to perform a suicide mission. While they will be flying sacrificial TSF-14As, the pilots will of course be recovered.”
That’s… a bit cold, but okay.
Johnson pushed a button, replacing the photo with a wireframe overview of a dozen different vehicles.
“For this operation, Strike Dove is being equipped with Variable Fighters on loan from the Japan Air Self Defence Forces,” he explained. “Razgriz Squadron will be equipped with VF-0Bs, while Captain Tanegashima and First Lieutenant Corolla will be flying VF-0Ds. Captain Turbo and Captain Shirogane will be flying their usual aircraft instead.”
Sergio thought Komaki had a hint of a reaction at “Shirogane”, but her expression was serious again in no time.
“Due to range limitations of most aircraft involved, especially the Tactical Surface Fighters,” Johnson continued, “most of the Phoenixes will be equipped with special large fuel tanks attached to the hardpoints originally designed for Super parts. In particular, the equipped aircraft will be those of the Razgriz and of Skystreaker One and Two, which will be tasked to buddy refuel Wardog Squadron along the way to the target. Skystreaker Three will be equipped with electronic warfare equipment, instead, as you won’t be accompanied by an AWACS, while the Destiny Gundam was deemed unsuitable to be equipped with refueling equipment. I will leave the explanation of the assault plan to Captain Komaki.”
“The Wolfram is currently headed towards a low intensity area of the front, where you’ll be air-launched. Attacks are underway in other sectors of the frontline as a diversion, and we have plotted a route which is unlikely to get you spotted by the enemy. Keep your altitude low, but be mindful of the added weight of the fuel tanks.
“Due to its distance from the front line, the facility appears to be only lightly guarded, but we are still discouraging you from pursuing the enemy to the last man. You’ll have limited ammunition, and will be in the middle of enemy territory, so you must destroy the target before any kind of reinforcement has the time to arrive.
“All three squadrons will work together against the enemy at first, but as soon as possible the TSF-14s must be placed in position. You’ll be divided in four groups, with a Razgriz pilot tasked with picking up a Wardog pilot while one of the Skystreaker covers them.”
“This is nuts!” Alvin screamed.
Komaki glared at him, which prompted him to recompose himself.
“Uuh… I’m sorry, Captain Komaki, but this seems like a lotta work to be placed on just twelve birds.”
Komaki closed her eyes. “We are aware of that, Captain Davenport. However, a larger force would be surely intercepted long before arriving on target, and we cannot wait for the front lines to become closer. The facility must be destroyed now, before cordium production is brought to full speed. Any other questions?”
Sergio raised his hand again. “One, if I may. From what I can see, the crater is quite deep. Even with an ECM aircraft, during the deployment of the explosives we’ll be basically blind to anything outside the crater. Was that considered?”
“Of course, but no way to address it was found. I have only one piece of advice: be quick. The sooner you are out, the less likely it will be for Belkan forces to intercept you.”
Sergio took a deep breath. This plan has more holes than Swiss cheese. We’re in for one hell of a rough time.
***
“Mr. Scribetto, you really shouldn’t! That computer contains classified military information!”
Gino ignored Ai’s protests as he sat at Johnson’s desk. “The information I’m looking for is some that should’ve been shared with me in the first place, so you have nothing to worry about. I won’t look at the rest.”
He booted up the computer. “Besides, as his author, I’m entitled to know anything he does.”
The login screen came up, and Gino quickly entered the password, logging in successfully at the first attempt. “As I expected. Irene’s birthday.”
In the corner of his eyes, Gino saw Ai take a step back as he started browsing through the documents about Strike Dove’s operations.
“You… you don’t know everything about me, too, right?”
“No, I’m afraid not. You’re not one of mine… you’re from that game, Koikatu, right?”
“You know it?!”
Scribetto opened the document about the current operation – the one against the cordium production plant. “Dabbled with it a bit. It has a nice character maker, so I thought it could help me give my characters an appearance.”
“Oh, so you didn’t play it…”
“I’m a former PPC author, what do you expect? Of course I’ve played it, can’t miss a chance of having a look at something that could have hilariously bad writing.”
He glanced at her. “Don’t worry, it wasn’t that badly written, and your route was in fact the better written of the four.”
Ai closed her eyes, her cheeks red. “Pervert!”
Gino scrolled down. “Anyways, let’s see how they’re planning to tackle it…”
The more he read the plan, however, the more he hated it. The Muv-Luv Wardogs are in for a lot of trouble, and Skystreaker and Razgriz almost as much. This thing doesn’t make any sense, unless… someone is actually expecting them to not come back alive. Could it be… Ikaruga’s doing?
“Ai, chew me out as much as you want, but later. We gotta defuse this thing fast, or I’m gonna end up having to come up with a funeral speech for a sizable portion of my characters.”
***
“This is heavy!” Ami shouted.
Sergio nodded as he started a turn – his own aircraft was feeling incredibly sluggish as well. “I know. Make sure to drain the dorsal tank first – once we’ve done our turn refueling the Wardogs, those will be almost empty and will go first.”
“Comet, roger.”
“Robogirl, how’s the radar situation?”
“I’m on passive scan right now, so I can only see things that have an active radar, but at least it seems that of those we have none.”
Sergio sighed. “That will have to do, using the active scan ourselves would be screaming ‘hey, we’re here, shoot us’. Alright, Skystreaker to Razgriz and Wardog, we’re almost to Waypoint Four and the sky is clear. Let’s keep flying as we are.”
“Razgriz, roger.”
“Wardog, roger.”
***
Nikki climbed down from the Kairos just as the sun started to set. Her hopes of relaxing, though, were dashed as she saw Gino discussing something animatedly with the rest of the ground crew.
She ran over to them. “What’s going on?”
“Good thing you’re here, Nikki,” Gino said. “I’m sorry, but I have to take this crazy story in my hands before people get hurt again. I need you to sortie in the Kairos.”
“Sortie? Me?”
“Ai, go talk with the guys at the tower. I need all the flight authorizations cleared for Kairos 026 by the time it is rearmed and refueled.”
Ai saluted. “Consider it done!”
“Koshita, you’re on ordinance duty. Clean configuration – so ammo for the 27mm internal guns, micromissiles, beam sabers from the Wave Gundam in both knife bays. Nothing else, we need the aircraft as light as possible and able to stand re-entry. Take the guys working on Messiah 020 if you need help… man they chose an awkward name for the VF-25.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
“Kuo, with me. I think there are a couple of Raptor drop tanks around – with those the Kairos should have enough fuel for an extended closed cycle burn.”
Nikki couldn’t understand anything anymore. They were preparing the Kairos for an emergency sortie, that was without a doubt, but why?
She grabbed one of Gino’s shoulders. “What’s going on? Why do I have to sortie?”
“The NATO coalition royally fucked up. That sortie Skystreaker and Razgriz are out on? That’s gonna end badly if we don’t do anything about it. I’ll spare you the details of their assignment – I’ll just say that they’ll be in big trouble if they don’t get any backup.”
Nikki froze. That’s… that’s… my nightmare coming true. “Even then… Do you think I can change things?”
“Of course. That thing you’ve been flight testing? It literally can fly circles around anything the Belkans can throw at you, while spamming enough missiles to make it look like New Year’s Eve.”
Nikki clenched her fists and looked down. “But what if I can’t do that? I accepted going back to flying because I knew I wouldn’t have to kill… and right away I get the choice between killing or letting everyone die!”
Gino grabbed her shoulders. “I know, Nikki… But you’re the only one who can right now. I know you can, I created you that way.”
“But-”
“Do it!” a voice sounding a lot like hers screamed behind her. Nikki turned around, and she found Hanami bent in two, hands on her knees as she panted heavily.
“Hanami? What are you doing here?”
Hanami raised her head, and walked towards her. “Preventing you from making my same mistake.”
“And not a second too late,” Gino commented.
Nikki blinked. What kind of mistake could she have made?
“When my Sergio was obsessed with chasing Kathleen, I tried everything to change his mind, anything I could think of, but I failed and now I keep wondering if I could have done anything more… if I actually missed my chance to save him.”
Hanami took Nikki’s hands. “You’re still in time to save your Sergio, and everyone else. If you don’t go, you’ll regret it forever… like I’m doing right now.”
“Hanami…”
“I’m sure you can do it, big sis! We’re all rooting for you!”
Nikki wanted to answer yes, but she felt a knot at her throat just as her eyes watered up. She gave her a nod, and walked back towards her aircraft.
“I’m going.”
Gino smiled. “I knew I could count on you. Okay, the plan is this. Even with this thing being able to go well past Mach 5 in normal atmosphere, you won’t get there in time.”
Gino took out a notepad, and quickly drew two circles one inside the other. “The inner one is this planet, the outer one the atmosphere.” He drew an arc connecting two points on the “planet”, low enough to not touch the other one. “This is a regular flight path… kinda. As long as you’re in the regular, breathable atmosphere, Mach 5.5 is pretty much the limit if you don’t want to burn up.”
Gino then drew a second arc, this time crossing the outer circle. “But this thing is space capable, so the higher you go, the less friction you’ll have. If you follow a ballistic trajectory, you’ll be able to go above Mach 20 while in low Earth orbit… and you’ll make it in time.”
“Where the hell did they come from? We’re more than two thousand kilometers away from the frontline!”
Sergio fired a missile towards an AA turret before it even started tracking him. At least the surprise part of the attack seems to have worked.
A trio of Zakus walked out of a building, and Sergio dove out of the way of their firing arcs. The Phoenix had a tougher skin than most fighters, but the Zakus’ machine guns fired 100mm cannon shells fully automatic.
“Bad news guys, they seem to have managed to hide a few Zakus here.”
Sergio turned the Phoenix into Battroid mode and landed next to Hibiki’s TSF-14A.
“Zakus? No way we can get out of the Tomcats with those still around.”
“I agree, we need to get rid of them first. Knight?”
“On it, leave them to me.”
The Destiny Gundam was the most suited for the job, after all. Sergio proceeded towards the extraction tower, Snow and Hibiki in tow.
Why this nonsense with the sacrificial robots? Couldn’t we just drop some timed explosives and be done with it? We would’ve already been out of here!
He gritted his teeth as the sky was filled up with tracers. I’ll have a word with those analysts as soon as I get back, there’s five times the AA cover they said there would be!
Forced on the ground, the trio turned a corner only to find themselves in front of two main battle tanks. Sergio opened fire with the gunpod, riddling one of them with holes. After all, the gatling cannon inside was a cousin of the A-10’s.
The tank’s turret stopped moving as the rest of the tank caught fire, while the other one exploded. Sergio, Snow and Hibiki jumped past them just in time to catch a glimpse of a triangular white object whizzing past.
“Wardog One here, what was that?”
“A Vogel UAV?” Snow wondered. “I thought those were fielded only by the Arkbird!”
“Durandal to Hephaestus Control.” someone said over the radio. “We’ve arrived at your location.”
Above them, a large aerial warship slowly came over from outside the crater. Despite the setting sun, Sergio could clearly see the various weapon emplacements on it. Oh, shit.
“Skystreaker One to all aircraft, take cover! We’ve got the Madoka-damn Belkan stealth carrier above us!”
***
“Launch all the remaining Vogels,” Weisse ordered. “This time, the White Birds and the Demons of Razgriz bit off more than they can chew.”
The Professor crossed his arms. “Are you sure this is a good idea, Commander? You headed here without calling back Sol Squadron from their sortie.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Professor.” Weisse laughed. “Inside that crater, they’re sandwiched between us, our ground forces and the ground itself. They’re trapped like mice.”
Nikki taxied the Kairos to the end of the runway. “Starlight to Tomoeda Control, I’m ready for takeoff.”
“The way’s clear, Starlight!”
Nikki’s eyes widened as she recognized the voice. “Mermaid? Is that you?”
She glanced at the control tower, and indeed Ai was waving at her from there, wearing a headset.
“Bring everyone back, Starlight!”
Nikki gave a nod. “I will. Starlight, taking off.”
She gave full throttle and released the brakes. The aircraft shot forward, covering the entire runway in no time. Nikki pulled up, and put the aircraft in a steep climb.
The altimeter and airspeed on her helmet HUD kept increasing quickly, and the sky gradually darkened to black. Despite the Inertia Storage Converter, she still felt a kick in the back when the engines switched from the normal, air-breathing open cycle to pure closed cycle rocket operation.
I can’t believe it… I’m in space already!
She looked outside of the canopy. She was already high enough to see the Earth’s – well, the new Earth’s – curvature clearly.
Blue and green… even this new Earth is so beautiful.
She took a deep breath. We shouldn’t ruin this world with a meaningless war. I’ll do my part to end it, and make sure all my friends will be back safe!
Sergio took cover behind a burning APC and opened fire on one of the drones. “Damn, just how fucking many of those things did they save up for us?”
Corolla’s Phoenix lowered its Assault Cannon. “I’d say that thing can hold at least two hundred of them. Also, I’m afraid I’m out of bullets.”
“This is insane!” Snow shouted as he downed another drone. “There’s no way we can reach the target locations, that ship’s gonna blast us out of the sky if we get out of cover!”
“Pheasant Leader to Wardog, Skystreaker and Razgriz.” Komaki’s voice was almost drowned by static, but still intelligible. “Move it, If this operation fails, the entire war might be lost. Skystreaker, Razgriz, shield the Wardogs to the detonation points with your own aircraft if you have to.”
The ground shook, likely due to cannon fire from the Durandal. A girl’s shrieks filled the radio channel.- Shizuku. It didn’t look like she was hit, but Sergio still grit his teeth.
Who the hell thought it was a good idea to put a middle schooler in this kind of mission? She’s getting the scare of her life… which might be really short now.
“Shield them with our own aircraft?” Alvin shouted. “And then what, they’re just gonna blow themselves up? You’re flippin’ nuts, woman! I haven’t signed up for a suicide mission!”
“… I know. But failure is not an option. I- wait, I have something on my radar. Incoming object from low Earth orbit… no way, it is sending a valid IFF signal!”
***
“Sir, bogey incoming from orbit.”
The Professor looked at the large operations screen just as Weisse ran over to it.
“No way!” Weisse said. “Since their operation is failing, they’re firing ballistic missiles at the production plant already? And how did we not know of the launch?”
The mission analyst started tapping frantically on his keyboard. “I have no idea, sir. None of our early warning centers caught any sign of ballistic missile launches.”
An alarm blared, and red warning lights came on.
“Multiple radar locks on our weapon systems!”
Weisse took a step back. “A MIRV type missile?”
The Professor shook his head slowly. I knew she couldn’t be dead.
“I’m afraid not, Commander. If my hunch is correct, we’re actually witnessing a ballistic insertion by a space-capable Variable Fighter.”
“Set all guns to intercept!” Weisse turned back towards the Professor. “Don’t tell me you even know who’s at the controls of that?”
“Oh, I surely can’t know that for sure. But… I suspect that the bogey is actually the long missing fourth aircraft of Skystreaker Squadron.”
He quietly chuckled to himself. You sure know how to pick them. That little magical girl grew up into a strong woman, it seems.
“Skystreaker, Razgriz and Wardog squadrons,” Nikki said over the radio as soon as the Kairos was no longer enveloped by the re-entry plasma. “This is Starlight. I’m joining Skystreaker Squadron as Skystreaker Four.”
“… Starlight? Is that really you?” Sergio shouted over the radio.
“If she’s really here, and came down from orbit…” Corolla wondered. “No way, she took the Kairos?”
The Kairos’ computer started analyzing the ship, and green squares appeared over its weapon emplacements. Nikki quickly glanced at all of them in succession to designate them, and pushed the ordinance release button.
Micromiissiles streaked all around her, headed towards the ship. There were several explosions, and several squares disappeared.
“This should give them something to think about!”
“Skystreaker One to all aircraft, the Durandal ceased firing on us, Starlight gave us an opening! Razgriz, cover Wardog, split four and four and position the Mechacats in succession. Skystreaker, with me, we’re backing Starlight up and keeping that monster busy.”
Nikki’s radar warning blared, and she barrel rolled out of the way of the Durandal’s retaliation fire. Several missiles headed towards her were shot out of the sky by lasers, and she saw the rest of Skystreaker Squadron come up from under the Durandal and form up with her.
“I’ve never been happier to see you!” Ami shouted.
Nikki smiled. “Sorry, guys. I’m late.”
“Skystreaker Four, you’ve entered the combat area without authorization! And Skystreaker One, the plan-”
“Skystreaker One to Pheasant One, shut up. I’m sorry, but everyone’s taking orders from me now. The IJA’s plan was a complete failure, so we’re rolling the Strike Dove way now.”
“This is insubordination! I’ll-”
There was some static noise. “Long Arch Zero Zero here, don’t worry about her. She’s getting a nice talk with me and Skystreaker Leader now. Also, we’re holding a party for Skystreaker Four later, so no one is allowed to die. Long Arch Zero Zero, out.”
Oh, Hayate.
“Knight, you’ve got the right amount of firepower, so blast up anything juicy you see on that ship,” Sergio said.” Robogirl, I want as much ECM cover as you can muster. I want their fire controls as fried as shrimp tempura. Starlight, Comet, we’re munching on those flying doritos of theirs. I don’t want anything to get anywhere close to our friends, they will be busy already with the ground vehicles.”
“Knight, roger.”
“Robogirl, roger that!”
Nikki laughed. “Long Caster’s starting to rub off on you.”
She followed Sergio’s Phoenix as it dove under the ship, guns blazing against the drones. She gained lock on a few of them, and fired another burst of micromissiles.
Her radar warning blared again, but the drone behind her was instantly obliterated by a gun burst from Ami’s Phoenix.
“Don’t even think about getting hit again. I’m not gonna allow that!” Ami said. “I’ve got my hands full keeping our flight leader out of trouble, so you’d better help me with that instead.”
Nikki nodded. “Don’t worry. I’m not running away again.”
***
“We’ve lost 50% of our AA defenses!”
“Starboard SAM launchers are not working! They’re completely offline!”
“Close off sections four and seven before the fire spreads further! How are communications with section eight?”
“Still no response!”
The Professor calmly got up from his chair. There was nothing to be afraid of – even if the ship was disabled, they were low enough that the impact was going to be survivable. He walked over to Weisse, who was looking incredulous at the screen.
“No way!” Weisse shouted. “Just one aircraft was enough reinforcements to turn this battle around?”
“Well, it looks like the aircraft is a fifth generation Variable Fighter. On top of that, the Skystreakers are now back at full fighting strength – they have morale on their side.”
He crossed his hands behind his head. “As I told you, never underestimate those kids.”
Nikki turned the Kairos to Battroid mode and selected the internal guns and head turret lasers. The guns flipped open from the wrist armor, and she started firing after putting herself back-to-back with Sergio’s Phoenix.
One by one, several Vogels fell out of the sky.
“I really missed this,” Sergio said. “Back to back, and taking on the world.”
Nikki smiled. “Yeah. I forgot how the adrenaline rush feels. And, even more importantly… how it is to fight alongside who matters most to you.”
She blasted up another drone. “I can’t promise I’ll take part on all missions from now on. I might still need to slow down from time to time. But one thing I can promise you is…”
A drone headed straight for her, and she pulled out the beam sabers from their bays. She slashed at the drone, for a second it looked like it froze in air, cut in two, then exploded.
“I’ll be there when you need me.”
“That’s the Nikki I know,” Sergio said.
Nikki looked around, trying to find another target. There were almost no drones left, and she could see fire coming out from several points of the Durandal.
“Razgriz One to Skystreaker One. The Mechacats are set, the Wardogs are safe aboard with us.”
“Skystreaker One, understood. Let’s get outta here, we’re likely all low on ammo. If we’re lucky, the Durandal will be hit by the blast.”
Nikki turned her Kairos back to fighter mode and followed Sergio as he flew out of the crater, the other aircraft forming up with them.
“We’re out of the estimated blast range and a bit more,” Corolla said. “Get ready for the fireworks!”
There was a bright orange flash from behind and Nikki felt the shockwave. She turned her head around – a huge ball of smoke and dust was rising, like an atomic fungus, partially enveloping the Durandal as it was slowly pushed aside by the explosion. “Uhm, guys? Those weren’t nukes, right?”
“Of course not, don’t worry,” Sergio said. “But they were some pretty good fireworks anyways.”
Alvin whistled. “You can say that again.”
***
Nikki shut down the Kairos’ engines. “Skystreaker Four to Wolfram, my engines are off.”
“Understood, Skystreaker Four. We’re glad to have you back.”
There was a flash of light, and Nikki found herself in the Wolfram’s internal hangar.
It’s nice to finally see this ship in perfect shape.
She opened the canopy, and climbed down the ladder the Wolfram’s crew had already prepared for her.
As soon as she was on the ground, she noticed Sergio walking towards her.
“Well, what can I say? We all owe our lives to you today.”
Nikki crossed her arms behind her back. “I’m sure you would’ve managed anyways. Even then, though…”
She ran over to him, and hugged him tight. “I’m so glad no one was hurt.”
“With you descending from the heavens like an angel? No way it could happen.”
“She’s here! She’s here!” Corolla shouted before tackling them with a flying hug.
“Corolla…” Nikki barely had the time to say before Ami joined the group hug as well.
“We missed you so much!”
Nikki closed her eyes, barely holding back her tears. This warmth… Was I really giving it up?
“Hey, Hiro, what are you doing?” Corolla shouted. “It’s Skystreaker Squadron group hug time, get your ass over here!”
“But…”
“No ifs or buts, you’re flying with the Skystreakers, you’re a Skystreaker!”
***
“With this, our debriefing is over, but please allow me a few more words. Today, as we head back towards Japan, we’re not just celebrating the success of an almost impossible operation that will change the course of the war,” Hayate said as she stood at the end of the conference room table. “More importantly, we’re celebrating the full recovery of First Lieutenant Nikki Cherryflower, who’s not just a fellow soldier but also a very important friend of ours.”
She picked up her glass of sparkling wine, and raised it high. “To Nikki’s return!”
Nikki raised her glass as well, just like everyone else in the room. She didn’t know the pilots of Wardog Squadron well, but she was really glad to have had the chance of meeting the Razgriz again.
Just as she thought that, Snow walked up to her, the rest of his squadron in tow.
“Guys! I’m glad to see you again!”
“What did I tell you?” Alvin elbow-punched Snow. “We should’ve made her Razgriz Five when we had the chance.”
“Didn’t prevent her from coming to our aid from the other side of the continent, and with an experimental aircraft to boot, though. We really owe you our lives, Cherryflower. Thank you, and I’m saying it on behalf of my squadron as well.”
“It’s nothing. You kept saving me when I was barely able to keep my aircraft in the air.” Nikki didn’t know if it was the compliments or the wine, but she was already starting to feel dizzy.
Alvin smiled. “Well, you gotta take care of your nuggets while their wings are still growin’ up.”
“And see?” Nagase continued. “As we told you, you’re back stronger than before.”
Stronger than before? Nikki mused to herself. I don’t know… but I surely learned something out of this.
“By the way, tonight is open bar night on the Wolfram!” Hayate announced. “I expect to see you all at the officers’ bar!”
***
Johnson sipped from his glass of bourbon. Hayate had insisted on having him and Komaki sit at the same table, and he was starting to see her reasoning.
“I’m really sorry for how I treated your pilots, Colonel,” Komaki said, propping her forehead on her hand. “They deserved better.”
“Don’t be like that, Komaki!” Hayate chipped, filling up Komaki’s glass again. “Everyone got back safely, so we should only celebrate!”
“Yes, but… this isn’t how such an operation should have gone.”
“Well, you never know how the battlefield can turn out,” Johnson said. “There’s a reason why the term ’fog of war’ was coined, after all.”
“That’s not what I meant. Please don’t hold it against me, I was just following my orders. But… this operation was never supposed to go smoothly.”
In vino veritas. You’re a clever one, Commander Yagami.
“This is strictly informal, but I was ordered to give you a false estimate of the facility’s defenses, so as to not risk your withdrawal from the operation. The actual expected aircraft loss rate was 92% at the very least.”
Johnson crossed his arms. “So your superiors were expecting that at best only one aircraft would make it back. This is something I wished I didn’t hear, Captain Komaki. If it went that way, I would be out of business. And, on top of that, my family was out there.”
Komaki gulped visibly. “… I talked too much. Please forget what I said – from what I know, the operation was penned by Lord Ikaruga’s cabinet. It would be unwise to-”
Komaki bit her lip, and Hayate smiled.
“Rest assured that I won’t act against the Japanese government.” For now. “However, you will agree with me that such an unfair treatment of Strike Dove has its price. Please inform Ikaruga and his cabinet that the matter will be considered solved if they let us keep the Phoenixes as reimbursement. They were expecting to lose them anyway, after all.”
“… I will. Please excuse me.” Komaki got up, and walked away from the table.
“Oh, one last thing,” Johnson said. “Please accept a piece of advice from someone more experienced. The next time they ask you to send your men in a suicide mission, be sincere with them at least.”
Komaki stiffened for a second, then continued walking.
“I don’t think you’re really settling it with just a few planes, am I right?” Hayate asked once Komaki was out of hearing range.
Johnson smiled. “You’re right. But I’d like for them to believe I do, so I can investigate this Ikaruga guy quietly. Considering you’ve gotten Captain Komaki drunk so she would spill the beans, I suspect you came to the same realization as Captain Turbo and I did. This plan only makes sense if you’re trying to get your own men killed.”
Johnson turned towards the table where the Wardog Squadron pilots were sitting. “And, considering how it was set up, I highly suspect they wanted those four out of the picture.”
“I heard rumors that Grand Shogun Koubuin, one of those in the roster to become Emperor, seems to hold them in high regard, but there’s a bit of a power struggle between her and Lord Ikaruga,” Hayate said. “The latter seems to have a lot of influence with the people coming from their world, so we need to look into this further.”
“I agree wholeheartedly, Commander.” Johnson took a sip from his glass. “This seems the kind of thing that will cause problems after the end of this goddamn war.”
“Speaking of something else, I haven’t seen Turbo and Cherryflower in a while,” Hayate said. “I know they’re a couple, but since we’re celebrating her recovery as well they could’ve stayed here a bit more before continuing the celebrations more… privately.”
Johnson laughed. “Actually, I’m afraid something else happened. You see…”
***
Sergio walked slowly through the corridor, supporting Nikki as he went.
“Oww…” she said. “We should’ve sneaked out sooner. I can’t believe everyone was trying to offer me drinks…”
“And you had just a couple.” Sergio sighed. “Not that I’m faring much better, and I drank just two too.”
“Why are we so lightweight?” Nikki lamented. “Ami had more than the two of us combined, and is still going strong!”
***
Ami raised her empty glass, her cheeks slightly flushed. “Another round?”
Snow struggled to focus his eyes. “…I’ll pass.”
He glanced towards his wingmen just in time to get a glimpse of Alvin stumbling into the bathroom. Nagase was busy blabbering something incoherent about peace to a pillar, and Grimm was out cold on a chair. It was time for a tactical retreat.
Snow glanced back at Ami just as she was getting her glass refilled. That short, adorable girl had drunk them all under the table – maybe those rumors about her actually being the legendary Demon Lord of the Round Table had some truth to them.
***
Nikki slumped on Sergio’s bunk bed, and Sergio sat next to her. “Feeling better?”
“Yes. I’m sorry about having pestered Shamal about it, but…”
Sergio laughed. “Yeah, she wasn’t happy having to nurse you again, but at least she was glad you’ve fully recovered from your crash.”
“Yeah…” Nikki took a deep breath. “It’s nice being just the two of us like this, isn’t it?”
“Yes. And there’s nothing in the way now, right?”
“Actually, before we really get back together… I have a confession to make.”
She sat up, avoiding his eyes. “You know… after I dumped you, I briefly dated Syaoron.”
Sergio nodded slowly. “I know. I heard something about it from Keiko.”
“Oh. Then you know that one night, Syaoron and I… well…”
“I have a confession of my own,” Sergio said. “I kinda made the same mistake… maybe it was even during the same night, who knows.”
Nikki blinked. “Eh?”
“With Ami.”
Nikki suppressed a laugh. “Well, it serves me right. I literally implored her to go for it, I can’t complain that she actually did.”
“Well, it was a bit more complicated than that… but let’s talk about the details another time.” Sergio chuckled. “I guess that makes us even?”
Nikki giggled. “Even.”
“So… Did you get assigned a room?”
“No. Hayate was too busy partying. I think she was trying to get Captain Komaki drunk.”
Sergio laughed again. “Not surprised. Well, the other bunk wasn’t assigned to anyone, and tomorrow we’ll be off the ship anyway, so I guess it won’t be a problem if you sleep here.”
“I would like to, yeah. I don’t have the energy left to go get another one. Besides…” Nikki put her hand over Sergio’s. “I didn’t realize how much I actually missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
And so, this officially concludes Nikki’s recovery arc! And for those wondering, yes. Keiko and her Cyber Formula shenanigans will eventually get their own arc, which I’ve called Cyber Circuits and, as expected, will mainly involve stuff from Future GPX Cyber Formula. But that will begin after the Scattered Shards art is over.
Fun fact of the chapter: Nikki’s lung capacity isn’t just based on her mermaid transformation ability, but it is a nod to the crazy extrapolations I used to do while watching anime as a teen. In particular, when watching the first Cardcaptor Sakura movie years ago I felt that Sakura had been kept underwater by the Madoushi a bit too long, so I timed her on a rewatch. A good three minutes while struggling to break free, and Sakura didn’t get much of a good breath beforehand, but she didn’t seem to be struggling for air at any point.
While, of course, the exact amount of time is actually moot thanks to Narrative Laws, as they wanted to allow us to see the Madoushi in denial over Clow Reed’s death (and trying to drown a ten years old girl just for breaking her the news, apparently. What’s the problem with you, Madoushi?), and Sakura coming up with the plan to free herself, for years I believed it must’ve meant that Sakura had excellent breath holding ability, and since Nikki is a clone of anime canon Sakura I incorporated that into her. This, of course, doesn’t mean I’ll still keep applying those fan extrapolations to Sakura herself – in fact, she likely isn’t as good as Nikki in freediving, and might not grow to be as tall as her after all (another failed extrapolation of mine, corroborated by incorrect Wiki infos).
As usual, this chapter wouldn’t have been possible without Doctorlit’s beta services, so once again thank you!
Mission Record 16 – Shattered And Scattered
Corolla slammed her hands on the briefing room’s desk. “Now that everyone is here, you sure are wondering why I’m calling a briefing. Is it bad? Yes, it is! This is a Level One Crimson Red Alert emergency!”
Kathleen leaned towards Gino. “What’s a Level One Crimson Red Alert?”
Gino’s jaw dropped. As Corolla expected, he knew what she meant. “Sergio and Nikki broke up… I assume Nikki was the one who broke off the relationship?”
“Yes, and this cannot stand! As you might’ve noticed, neither of them is here, and the reason is pretty simple. Nikki would just plead for us to leave her alone with some self-loathing bullshit, and Sergio sems convinced that we have to give her space now. I say instead, let’s strike the iron while it’s still hot! First of all, this war is what’s causing all this trouble, so it has to end.”
Gino facepalmed. “No, Corolla. Nuking Belka’s capital would be a war crime. You’re not doing that.”
Corolla froze. Of course her author would know what she was thinking. But, even then, they deserved it!
“And to think I had already designed the extra-large stealth drop tanks for my Silent Raptor… Okay, that’s off the table. For now.”
Gino walked over to her and flicked his finger at her forehead. “Corolla, I know their happiness together is your number one priority, but don’t let it get to your head. No extreme solutions – neither of them would like it, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t write you as an omnicidal maniac.”
Corolla blinked a couple of times. Yes, he had a point. “Uhm… right. So, what do we do?”
“First of all, we call my old self-insert and your commanding officer here as well. I’m getting sick of you guys hiding things from each other, so now you are telling me everything that is going on right now. The only reason I’m not having Nikki here is because she isn’t going to come here willingly as she is now.”
Corolla exchanged a glance with Kathleen, who smiled. “It can be addressed.”
“Don’t.”
***
“And that’s all we know about Sol Squadron. With what they’re letting on, I think they actually plan to betray Belka at some point… but they still aren’t going to be on our side afterwards,” Sergio said.
Gino crossed his arms. “Okay, now I’m really getting why you’ve been keeping secrets. Belka with cordium is pretty high on my Do Not Want list, especially with a second embryonic A World With No Boundaries coming up ready to sweep the tech from them.”
“It’s not just that, Mr. Scribetto,” Johnson said. “While the goals of Sol Squadron are just our personal suppositions, the cordium issue is actually classified military information. By informing you and previously uninvolved personnel, we’re technically breaching our contract. But I guess it is time to do what needs to be done to keep the situation under control.”
Gino nodded slowly. “Yes, it is. On this matter, I agree that we shouldn’t tell Nikki a single word – knowing we have this Damocles’ sword upon our heads would just strengthen her belief that she is abandoning us. Alright, I’m getting why you guys aren’t sparing much time to stay in her company lately, but please try. Her psychological recovery hinges on it – she can’t do this alone, she needs your warmth.”
Kathleen smiled. “Consider that done!”
Sergio glanced at her. That’s what I’m afraid of.
“Uhm… “ Keiko said. “Aunt Kathleen? I think it’s better you leave that to us. In fact, I think I’ll go visit her right away. You know, maybe reminding her she has a daughter will make her realize she can’t dump us all.”
She gave a quick bow, and exited the room.
***
Keiko kept tapping her foot on the floor of the Kinomoto household’s living room. “So? What do you say now, Mom? Dumping a boyfriend is easy, I’ve dumped a couple myself. But you can’t dump a daughter.”
“Keiko, I’m not trying to run away from you. You can come here any time you want… I’m not sure I know how to be a mother yet, though.” Nikki averted her eyes. “But I think I can still be at least like an older sister or a friend, I hope.”
Keiko clapped her hands. “Oh, if that’s the problem, I can bring in what I remember of an older you. But, step one: don’t divorce Dad. I’d like my family still in one piece, thank you.” She took a step forward. “I’d understand if something went sour between the two of you, but you used the most stupid reason in the world to dump him!”
Nikki took a step back, her eyes wide open. She averted her gaze again. “I…” She bit her lip, probably knowing that she didn’t have a good rebuttal.
“Uhm… I’m sorry to interrupt,” Sakura said from the doorway leading to the corridor. “But Syaoran and Syaoron are here, so…”
Keiko turned toward her. Behind her, there were two different iterations of Syaoran – one her age, which she assumed to be the canonical one, and a second one her mother’s age.
“Oh, hi. I’m Keiko, Nikki’s daughter. From the future, as you can guess from the fact I’m almost as old as her.”
Keiko squared off the older Syaoran as the two boys introduced themselves. Mom’s a ‘Sakura’ herself… gonna keep an eye on this guy.
“Oh, right, we were planning to go for a stroll in the park all together,” Nikki said. “You can come with us, if you have the time.”
Keiko thought it up. “Yes, I do. That doesn’t seem like a bad- wait a minute.”
Hanami was getting some help with the math homework from Mikage. So the original plan without her would’ve been her mother, Sakura, Syaoran and Syaoron. Two and two.
“Auntie Sakura, can you and Syaoran give the three of us a minute?”
Sakura nodded, her eyes wide open, and she left the room with Syaoran. Did she scare her somehow? Well, I’ll apologize later.
Keiko stepped in front of Syaoron, cracking her knuckles. “So, I think I’m starting to see another part of the issue.”
***
“And so, I’m officially grounded,” Keiko said, staring at the ceiling of the room she was sharing with the other girls. “Turns out Syaoron hadn’t made a move on her, after all.”
Corolla floated next to her. “Kei, punching him was a terrible idea. If Nikki does like him a bit, now you’ve let him gain sympathy points that will bring them closer.”
“Uhm, Corolla?” Hajime said. “I think the fact it was unwarranted violence is also bad.”
“No violence is unwarranted in making sure Sergio and Nikki stay together! Also, it’s Auntie Corolla.”
Keiko gave her a sideways glance. “I think our author had a point. You are letting it get to your head.”
“I’m not the one who got grounded over it… by the way, what exactly did you get punished with?”
Keiko looked up in thought. “I don’t know. I’ve never been grounded before, and… well… Mom just kicked me out of Grandpa Fujitaka’s house telling me to consider myself grounded, without adding details. So technically I’m not being punished with anything at all.”
Corolla opened up a holographic window. “Well, I dare say that’s not really much of a grounding then, but still… Hey, Nikki, I’m leaving you this message since you’re not picking up the phone. I heard what happened with Keiko, and I decided that as long as you keep this ‘I don’t deserve you’ nonsense going with Sergio, your parental authority over Keiko is revoked. As such, she’s now officially un-grounded.”
Keiko raised an eyebrow. “You know… I don’t think that is gonna work. I’m afraid she might take it as a chance to just see it as not having any obligation towards me anymore.”
“Well, I’m almost done fixing up Vanguard, so if she does I’m bashing her on the skull with it.”
Keiko rolled her eyes. There was no doubt Corolla was taking the matter personally.
***
“I’m really sorry,” Nikki said as she offered Syaoron an ice bag. “She isn’t like that usually, I swear.”
Syaoron took the ice bag and put it over his black eye. “Don’t worry, I think I understand. Since you just broke up with her father, seeing another man around you was enough for her to think I was the cause, I guess.” He brought out a half smile. “I just wish she didn’t go straight to her fists.”
“What can I say?” Nikki let out a short laugh. “She’s just as impulsive as her father.”
Syaoron joined in her laugh. “She sure is. She’s got your eyes, but the way she narrowed them when she saw me was more like Sergio.”
Nikki was taken aback – Sergio and Syaoron had never met each other, as far as she knew. Unless… No way.
Nikki took a deep breath. “Syaoron, are you… The Syaoran from my world?”
Sergio pulled up the throttle lever of the Phoenix, prompting the aircraft to turn into GERWALK mode. The aircraft slowed down suddenly, and the Flapper on his tail flew past him.
I have made my own mistakes but… in the end it is their fault Nikki is like this.
He looked straight at the Flapper and pulled the trigger, opening fire with both the gunpod and the laser cannons.
If they didn’t start this stupid war, she would not be reduced like this!
The Flapper was ripped apart, its burning wreckage falling out of the sky and into a chasm below.
“Nachthund squadron has been wiped out!” someone said over the radio. “There’s only two of the White Birds here today, you should be able to do something about them!”
“Do something?” a Belkan pilot shouted. “Have you seen those bloodstained wings? It’s the Mongoose!”
“The enemy’s air defenses are down!” Long Caster said. “Attacking what used to be a former Osean base is difficult to swallow, but there’s little chewing left to do. One more push, everyone.”
Sergio dove towards the artificial island where the actual 444th Air Base was located. No reason to waste ammo on the shore – the other two runways were fake and the boneyard field contained mostly unsalvageable wrecks.
“Damn it, they’re here! Drive them off, or I’m gonna make sure you’re court-martialed for-”
“Hang on a sec,” Long Caster said. “Colonel McKinsey, is that you? If that’s the case, surrender immediately or I’ll have to consider you a defector.”
“Defector? And from what? The Osean Air Defense Force doesn’t exist anymore, Major Ramsay. At least I’m working with an actual military instead of mercenaries.”
Sergio thought it up as Long Caster kept arguing with McKinsey. That guy… he’s the one who sold Spare to the Belkans.
He went straight towards the control tower. The one who forced Nikki to go on suicide missions and kill people she didn’t need or want to.
He switched to Battroid mode as he hovered in front of the control tower’s windows. That guy held a huge chunk of the blame for Nikki’s self-loathing.
“What?! How did he get-”
“Shut up, McKinsey,” Sergio said over the channel he and Long Caster were using. “You’re in no position to claim any moral ground. You’re the one who put First Lieutenant Cherryflower on that junker to do your bidding or die trying, right?”
“And what if that were true? She was aiding Yuktobanian spies!”
He glanced inside the tower, and saw a man staring back at him while holding a microphone. Bingo.
He aimed straight at him. “You might know me as the Mongoose, but I’m Captain Sergio Turbo of Strike Dove Incorporated. I’m First Lieutenant Cherryflower’s boyfriend and coworker… and the one who wiped out Grabacr Squadron.”
McKinsey took a step back. “You…”
“Now it’s your turn to pay for what you’ve done to her.”
Sergio pulled the trigger, and didn’t let go of it until the tower’s roof collapsed.
***
“With that, the last bastion of the Belkan forces on the southern coast has fallen,” Albert explained to Sergio and Ami as they sat inside the E-767. “This opens up a safe corridor towards the Clow Kingdom – I’ve heard the Belkans already recalled the forces that were trying to besiege it.”
“That’s good to hear!” Ami said. “From what I understood, their royal family is kind of related to Nikki.”
“Yeah, they’re basically an alternate universe version of her family,” Sergio added. “Don’t ask me more, though – Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle was a mindscrew.”
“I see…” Ami lowered her gaze. “Though, if I can be sincere… Sergio, what you did earlier gave me the chills.”
Sergio gulped. He could see her point.
“I agree with her, Captain Turbo. We can pass off taking out the tower as necessary to cut off their command line, but the way you went about it was quite unwarranted.”
Sergio nodded slowly. “I know, guys. That was out of line. I got caught by the heat of the moment, and… well, I also wanted to get a message across to the Belkans for a bit of psychological warfare.”
Ami raised an eyebrow, and Albert leaned forward. “And what would that be?”
“The Mongoose has no mercy for those who hurt his family and friends. I want them to think twice before going after any of you guys”
***
Kathleen crossed her arms as Corolla kept doing “system checks” on the Wave Gundam. They had been sitting inside the mecha for a good twenty minutes, and they hadn’t even taken a single step!
“So… When are we actually going to start having fun? This is boring.”
“I know, I know! But I need to make sure everything is working correctly and we’re not burning anything out due to using too little power. This was built on a Hyaku Shiki frame, so the reactor specified for it was newer and more powerful than a Zaku’s. By the way, I don’t think you’ve chosen a TAC name yet?”
“TAC name? What’s that?”
“Radio callsign. For the record, I’m Robogirl, Sergio’s Lightning, Ami’s Comet, and Nikki used to be Starlight. Well, I hope she will be again.”
Kathleen nodded. “I guess I’ll be ‘Lowroar”, then.”
“… Lowroar? Not “Loudroar? It sounds better, and stronger!”
Kathleen laughed. “Nah. I’m more subtle.”
“Well, if that’s the case… Skystreaker Three, Robogirl and Lowroar, to Tomoeda Control. We’re ready to begin our test run.”
“Tomoeda Control to Skystreaker Three, no aircraft inbound or outbound. You’re cleared.”
“Thank you!”
Kathleen felt the Gundam lurching forward, and in the screens she saw the arms raising up. They looked even more lopsided than they did from outside – the right one was clearly shorter and slimmer than the left one.
“I’m sorry about taking the first turn for myself,” Corolla said. “But before leaving it in your hands I want to be sure it is working properly. I would never forgive myself if someone crashed into something because I didn’t double-check everything on one of my machines.”
Kathleen relaxed against the seat and crossed her arms behind her head, watching Corolla as she pretended to aim the Gundam’s rifle at random things. “No offense taken. But be careful what you aim that thing at, my brother is pretty fond of that old car of his.”
“Don’t worry, it’s safetied up. Shooting practice can only be done at a live fire training area, after all.”
Kathleen pouted. “So we’re not gonna pew pew anything today?”
“I’m afraid not. But we can practice with the beam sabers, I had the ground crew set up a few logs for us to cut!”
Kathleen smiled. Beam sabers? Those were more in her style.
***
Sergio donned up his gloves as he walked towards the Phoenix. The aircraft had been fully refueled, and the NATO forces had just finished garrisoning in 444th Air Base – time to get home.
Ami pulled on his sleeve. “Got a minute?”
Sergio nodded. “Of course. What is it?”
“Well… it’s about what we talked about earlier, kinda.” Ami fidgeted, then hugged him.
“Ami?”
“I know you’re mad for how they messed up Nikki’s mind, I am too, but you can’t take on the entire world by yourself. I promised her that I’m going to be the one to watch your back for as long as she isn’t able to, but…”
She released him, and took a step back. “It’s kinda difficult if you keep tossing yourself into the snake pit. You were flying quite recklessly today.”
Sergio gulped. She was right – in fact, she had taken out an enemy plane that had sneaked up on him while he was too focused on chasing another one.
“She might’ve broken up with you, but I’m sure she still cares plenty. This isn’t what she wants you to do, I’m sure.”
“I know. But…I’ll tell you the truth, I want this all to be over. To be over now. That’s the only way I see things going back to normal… especially for Nikki.”
Ami’s shoulders slumped. “I see what you mean… but making yourself Public Enemy Number One to the Belkans won’t end the war faster. It will probably just make the Grey Men start considering plans to take you down.”
Sergio sighed. “I’m afraid it’s way too late for that. What do you think the attack on Sand Island was? I get it, though – if I let all of this get to my head, I’m dead.”
“Exactly.” Ami smiled. “I’m happy you realized it right away this time.”
She looked up in thought for a second. “We should be back at Tomoeda by late afternoon – what if we grab a bite out this evening? A bit of normal life might help get the bad thoughts out.”
Sergio thought it up. It was ages since he had a nice day out – the only attempt in several weeks had been the failed picnic with Nikki.
“Doesn’t seem a bad idea. I’m paying – I kinda owe you.”
***
“Having dinner out?” Nikki stared at the phone, barely believing her ears.
“Yes.” Syaoron said from the other side. “I know it’s sudden, but Tomoyo had booked a table for two for my brother and Sakura, but then as you know the school trip got rescheduled to start today.”
Nikki let out a laugh. It was probably some plan by Tomoyo for them to have their first true formal date. “I bet Tomoyo had even made her a cocktail dress just for the occasion.”
“I would be surprised if she didn’t. Anyways, Syaoran said that rather than let the booking go to waste, we could go instead. What do you think?”
“Well, if you put it this way… Sure, why not? It’s been months since the last time I had dinner out.”
***
Kathleen walked forward towards the log, beam sabers in her hands – or, well, her “manipulators”, as Corolla called them.
Piloting a mecha was already sounding cool, but controlling it as if it were her own body? Much cooler.
She sprinted at the log, and slashed off the top third with the left saber, and then bisected the remaining stump with the right one.
“I am a Gundam… and a lumberjack too, it seems.”
Corolla laughed. “But it’s still fun, isn’t it?”
“Absolutely. Next time I see Nikki I’m gonna tell her that I’m taking her spot in the squadron if she keeps acting like the wimp she absolutely isn’t.”
She charged at another log, pirouetting as she cut it in half.
“You know, I’ve been a witness to their soap opera since it started. I’m getting tired of it.”
Corolla burst out laughing again. “And you missed the worst part. When they were living together, but didn’t even recognize each other. Well, Nikki didn’t remember who she was either and Sakuras being a dime in a dozen also didn’t help, but…”
Kathleen nodded – or she made the Gundam nod? Or both nodded. This is confusing.
“Yeah, I’m still getting used to the fact there’s three of them now.”
“Four of them. Didn’t we watch the news together yesterday? Princess Tsubasa from the Clow Kingdom is yet another one. There might be even more around.”
Kathleen’s eyes widened. “Even more? Four are confusing me already, thank you. You know, I did choose Nikki as my “official” Sakura, but there’s Hanami who is actually the one from my timeline, and the ‘real’ Sakura is a third one. And now there’s another one who’s a princess, too?”
She pouted. Or, at least, tried. The Gundam had no mouth, but maybe her own body did pout. “I can’t deal with all the Sergios and Sakuras of the multiverse by myself. We need multiple Kathleens for that.”
***
“Not only has 444th Air Base been taken by the NATO coalition, but as I expected it was the flight leader of Skystreaker Squadron, the one who you call ‘Mongoose’, who executed Colonel McKinsey. Rather brutally, I dare say.”
The Professor relaxed in the chair in front of Weisse’s desk. “Skystreaker Four, First Lieutenant Nikki Cherryflower, was captured before the official start of the war and deployed in Spare Squadron there. I think you can connect the dots, Commander.”
Weisse frowned. “Are you thinking Skystreaker One is on a rampage against anyone who hurt that girl?”
“I know he is. I saw it happen in our world before the Collapse, and it’s happening again. Grabacr Squadron, Colonel Rand of Fliegenderberg Air Base, Grabacr Squadron again, and now Colonel McKinsey. He won’t stop until he’s done – and the next target is painted on your back, Commander.”
Sweat beaded on Weisse’s forehead. He’s trying to not show it, but he’s feeling cornered. Good.
“Well, I’d like to see him try. We’re on the most advanced and armed aerial warship of the Belkan Air Force.”
“Commander, please. I know your judgment can’t be that delusional. The Durandal and its flight complement are a powerful asset, but so was the task force you sent to Sand Island.only to have it completely wiped out. You can pile up dozens of chickens against a single wild cat, but all you’re going to get is sending the latter into a killing frenzy.”
“Are you telling me I should just wait for him to kill me?” Weisse shouted.
“Of course not, Commander. Please don’t put words in my mouth.”
“Then, what do you think we should do?”
He’s already capitulated. How gullible.
“It takes an ace to shoot down another ace, Commander. And, as you know, my pilots are the only ones that were able to keep up with the Skystreakers. Unfortunately, I don’t think the airframes we have are enough – but I think Sol Squadron has provided Belka with what it needed to solve the powerplant issue on Grunder’s Project Vortigern.”
Weisse’s eyes widened. “Project Vortigern? You can’t be serious! Are you really asking me to-”
The Professor smiled. “To ask Grunder to assign the developmental airframes to Sol Squadron. Don’t look at me that way – everyone knows Shilage is the most experienced and skilled pilot in this world. His input will be as valuable as gold.”
Weisse inhaled, gripping his chair’s armrests. “I can see your point, Professor, but that’s a tall request. I’ll see what I can do.”
“I’m sure Grunder’s executive board will have no objections if you tell them the King of the Sky wants to be a test pilot for it. I’ve heard they already went through hoops to get his flight data.”
***
Sergio turned on the left blinker and stopped his Trueno right in front of Tomoeda Field’s gate. Ami was already waiting outside, holding a small purse in her hands. She walked over to the passenger side door and opened it before sitting inside the car.
Sergio suppressed a laugh “I see you’ve prettied yourself up.”
Ami laughed too. She was wearing a black strapless dress with lilac frills and a fake corset in the same color, which really suited her. Sergio had to admit it, she was pretty damn cute. I’m starting to see why the me of Hajime’s timeline eventually got together with her…
“It’s been a while since the last time I had a chance to.” Ami looked up in thought while he resumed driving. “Last time I had a dinner out… uhm, as Ami Cappuccino it was before I was deployed on the Wolfram, so several months ago. As Ami Tanegashima…surely it was with you before I died.”
Sergio nodded as he stopped at a traffic light. “Feels like a lifetime ago.”
“Literally, for me. The only way my mind is making any sense out of all of this is thinking that I reincarnated as Ami Cappuccino after I… moved on. It’s not what happened, but it’s making it easier to put things in order.”
Sergio laughed again, “I stopped expecting things to make sense a long time ago.”
Ami joined in his laugh. “I can’t blame you. Speaking about moving, though… I was kinda surprised you already rented an apartment.”
“I started looking for one as soon as we moved to Tomoeda Field. It’s not a big one, mind you – it was mostly meant as a place Nikki and I could have some privacy in while we sorted out everything. You know, mostly the fact I now have a daughter with her and one with you. Corolla suggested we just find a house big enough for all five of us but, well…”
“I get it. You were waiting until Nikki was feeling better before talking about it with everyone, right?”
“Exactly. Mind you, I’m not sold with Corolla and Kath’s ‘Harem Route’ idea, but… at the same time, I’d like for both Keiko and Hajime to be able to live with their parents. For them to be able to have every little bit of a normal life they can, even if only crumbs of it are available at all.”
“Yeah, I understand. I wouldn’t mind sharing a home with you all – that’s kinda what we did at Sand Island, but I agree we need to hear Nikki’s opinion about it too.”
In the corner of his eye Sergio saw Ami lower her head. “I doubt she’d be against having me around, especially since she’s basically tried to hand you off to me. But I want to hear it from her mouth.”
Sergio felt a tug at his stomach as he turned right at an intersection. By trying to distance herself, Nikki wasn’t troubling them less like she thought – she was troubling them more. “That’s what I thought, too.”
He took a deep breath. “I don’t care if she doesn’t want to fight anymore. It’s not First Lieutenant Cherryflower I fell in love with… It’s Nikki. And Nikki is still here. I wouldn’t love her any less even if she was bedridden for life.”
“That’s right! She doesn’t need to prove us anything to continue being our friend. Because that’s what being friends is.”
***
Nikki looked in disbelief at the menu. “Just how much was Tomoyo planning to pay…”
Syaoron looked around. The table that had been reserved for them was in the garden area, under a wooden gazebo. “I think the only thing she cared about was the place that would’ve looked best on camera.”
“That… would be like her, yeah.”
“Anyways…” Syaoron sighed. “It was me who invited you here, so don’t worry about the prices. I’m paying.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! I’m gonna pay my half!”
Much to her surprise, Syaoron almost jumped on his chair, his eyes widened.
“Uh… I’m sorry. I didn’t want to spook you. But… It doesn’t seem fair that you have to pay for both, when I do have enough of an income to do my part.”
But it does feel a bit unfair to still get paid while staying at home all day…
Syaoron chuckled. “Alright, as you wish. You know, you really looked like you were going to punch me there and then…”
Nikki’s eyes widened. “Eh?”
“For someone who keeps saying she’s done with fighting, you still know how to be tough when you want to.” He closed his eyes and smiled. “You’re much stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
Nikki felt her cheeks heat up, and lowered her eyes. But you never saw me when I actually was strong…
***
“And so, you went through the pain of dressing up for a fine restaurant but we ended up in a fast food.”
Ami gulped down the bite she had taken off a hamburger. “It’s fine. We shouldn’t really have expected to find a table without reservation anyway. And you know what? I’m actually more into burgers than very refined but also half empty dishes.”
Sergio laughed. “Yeah, I’ve never been a fan of gourmet restaurants either.” He munched on a couple fries. “Though, even if it makes me sound very stereotypically Italian, I’m more into pizza than burgers. Once this war is over and we have the time, I’m gonna get to what’s left of Italy and eat one at a proper pizzeria.”
Ami laughed. “I hope your years-long quest for a good pizza will be over soon!”
“Oh, well, Nikki and I did live in Italy for a bit before moving to Japan. There was a good take-away pizzeria near my house, so I managed to have my fill. It’s been a while, though.”
Ami took a sip from her cup. “Speaking of places to live in… if you rented the apartment to go live in with Nikki, why did you move in full-time anyway? Isn’t it lonely, all by yourself?”
“Oh, well, that’s to try to get better sleep now since I had to share a room with some of the other guys.” Sergio leaned over the table, and put a hand next to his mouth. “Gramps snores. A lot.”
***
“You know what? I’m still hungry.” Nikki said as she and Syaoron entered Penguin Park.
“To be fair… I feel the same,” Syaoron agreed. “The food was good, but the portions were pretty small.”
Nikki closed her eyes and crossed her arms. “If we see a ramen cart, we’re stopping at it.”
Syaoron laughed. “Never thought you were a street food type.”
“Oh, well, I also like more refined food. But that restaurant had turned it up to eleven. Their dishes were art, but… I was expecting to have dinner, not just an appetizer. If I were to eat there regularly, I’d end up thinner than I was when I worked at the PPC.”
“Don’t tell me, they skimped on food there?”
“Uhm… not quite. There was a cafeteria, but the food was so bad we preferred to cook for ourselves. Except… we didn’t really have the time most days.”
Nikki thought back to the times where Sergio, Corolla and she were more likely to have a meal during a mission than inside Headquarters. They… weren’t bad times, despite all.
She laughed. “I lost count of how many times we were saved by rice crackers, canned meat and dehydrated fruit mix.”
Syaoron pointed at a row of vending machines, and they walked towards them. “And now, a few snacks will have to do the same?”
“Yeah. Though, to be fair, I wish we had vending machines like these in HQ.” She made her selection, and picked up a warm can of corn soup from the chute. “I was quite shocked to discover they aren’t the norm in the rest of the multiverse.”
Syaoron walked across a few machines to pick a sandwich and a can of Pepsi. “I was actually shocked when I arrived here. Pepsi and Coke in different machines? And one machine for each brand of snacks?”
Nikki drank down some of her soup. “At least now everyone has their choices! In HQ, we’d be lucky if we actually found some real Coke or Pepsi… both at once was almost impossible.” She laughed. “I think the only times Sergio and I actually managed to both get our picks were during missions… I like Pepsi like you do, but he prefers Coke.”
“I remember that. It was already that way back when we all were in Venice.”
“Yeah…”
Maybe we always were too different on many things.
She finished her soup in silence, and tossed the can into the recycle bin next to the last vending machine. Ami is more like him on a lot of things… they’re both good with guns, they know a lot about aircraft, they even both like Coke.
She felt some drops hitting her head and shoulders. “What? Not again!”
“My apartment is not too far,” Syaoron said as the rain became more steady. “Let’s make a run for it, I’ll bring you home by car.”
***
Ami followed Sergio on the stairs of the apartment building. “This is quite a climb!”
“Yeah. My apartment is on the fifth floor. There’s a lift, but it broke down. Must be something serious, the maintenance crew has been working on it since yesterday.”
They arrived at the right floor and Sergio headed towards one of the doors. He opened it, and flicked a switch inside. “Here it is. It isn’t very big – nothing fancy really.”
Ami walked in. She had insisted on having a look – after all, her friend had a habit of not really bothering to make his living spaces comfortable unless he had to share them with someone else.
She sat at the bench near the entrance and took off her shoes, replacing them with a pair of slippers. Sergio did the same, putting on his own – as she had guessed, the only red pair.
“You’ve put enough slippers for a few guests – you already know how it works here!”
“Well, I’ve actually been living in Japan for about a year when this happened, so you have to thank Nikki for that. If it wasn’t for her explaining stuff to me, I would’ve made an embarrassment out of myself who knows how many times.”
“I see. So that’s why your Japanese improved so much!”
She got up, and ignored the closed door right in front of her – that was surely the bathroom. She walked towards the next room, which turned out to be also the only other one. On her right she found a kitchenette and a table with two stools, while on the left there was a big wardrobe. In front of her there was a coffee table right in the middle, with a couch on the right and a low counter with the television on the left. Past the coffee table there was the apartment’s only window.
“So… I guess this is what they call a studio apartment?”
“Yes, it’s a bit cramped. Now that I think about it, my Response Center at the PPC might’ve actually been bigger, and that’s saying something.”
She stopped next to the coffee table. “I remember it. I think you’re right, actually – I can’t imagine three people living here at once, two would be kinda pushing it already.”
She turned her attention to the couch. The coffee table left no space for a futon, so it surely was one of those that could be unfolded into a double bed. As it was, though, there were some sheets over the couch without it having been opened. Memories of Sergio using a sleeping bag on his Response Center’s floor flashed in her mind.
“Don’t tell me… You’re sleeping on the couch as it is?”
“Er… Yeah.” Sergio passed a hand over the back of his head. “Though, to be fair, it’s more than large enough for a single person as it is, and quite comfy too, so I didn’t bother unfolding it. This place is cramped enough as it is.”
Ami bit her lip, and sat down on the couch. It seemed quite soft, so she tried laying down. “Oh, you’re right. The gaps between the cushions ruin it a bit, but… I think they actually make for a better mattress than the ones we had at Sand Island, and even compete with the ones at Tomoeda Field.”
She looked up at the shelves behind the couch. Much to her surprise, they appeared to be full of books. “When did you get all those books?”
“I didn’t. They were already there, and… well…”
Sergio leaned over, and much to Ami’s surprise he took a full row of books like they weighed nothing. In fact, they also looked like they were completely stuck together.
“Don’t tell me… they’re fake?”
“Yeah. Fake decorative books. As crazy as it sounds, they’re actually a thing.”
Sergio put the fake books back on the shelves, and Ami sat up.
“That aside, it doesn’t look too bad,” She conceded. “It’s a bit small, but for staying a little while looks comfortable!”
“Yeah, it does. And-”
All of a sudden, the light went off.
Sergio sighed. “Oh, you gotta be kidding me.”
***
Nikki shut off the hair dryer. It was nice of Syaoron to let her take a warm shower – by the time they got to his home, they were both completely drenched.
She made sure the towel she was wearing was wrapped snugly around her before walking out of the bathroom, one hand on her chest ready to catch it if it were to come loose.
She had seen enough anime to know that it was the exact kind of situation in which towels loved to come off at the wrong moment.
Syaoron was in the living room, kneeling next to an electric heater. He was shirtless, his drenched shirt and her dress were on two chairs set close to the heater.
“I’m done with the bathroom,” Nikki said. “You should really take a shower too, before you get a cold.”
“Just a second.” He flicked a switch, and stood up. Nikki couldn’t help but gaze at him – he must’ve exercised in his free time, because his chest was nicely defined.
“I set it all the way up, but I’m afraid it will still take a while before your dress dries up. I can lend you some clothes of mine until then, if you don’t mind.”
Nikki felt her cheeks heat up. It was a nice gesture, but there was a big problem. “Actually… I don’t think it’s a good idea. I’ll keep this towel for now. In fact… I think I have something else I need to hang to dry, but please don’t look at them.”
Syaoron blushed as well. “Do you mean…?”
Nikki joined her knees, hugging herself. “Yeah. They got drenched too. When that car hit the puddle and splashed us, I think. As you can guess, I’m not really into wearing another person’s clothes with no undies on.”
Syaoron looked frozen.“Y-yeah, I agree.”
Nikki raised an eyebrow. “Are you alright? Don’t tell me…” She burst out laughing. “Yes, I’m naked under this towel. Is that shocking you so much?”
Syaoron tried to bring out a smile, but he still looked nervous. “A bit. I wouldn’t have expected you to walk out of the bathroom so casually without underwear on.”
“Well… the other options were to wear them wet, or shut myself in the bathroom for a while trying to dry them with the hairdryer. I mean… I can still do the latter, but you should really get a shower first.”
Syaoron laughed. He looked finally at ease. “You really worry about me, if your priority is getting me to have a warm shower over not being naked in my presence.”
“Of course I worry! We used to be together, years ago. And, besides…” She felt her cheeks go up in fire. “We… are kinda dating again, aren’t we?”
“I hadn’t looked at it that way, but… I guess we are, yes.”
“Now go, unless you want me to throw you under the shower myself.”
Syaoron gave her a wary look. “You’re really going to?”
She stepped around him, and started pushing him towards the bathroom. “Don’t tempt me!”
Nikki kept pushing with both hands as Syaoron laughed. She didn’t care at all when her towel indeed fell off.
***
Sergio closed a cabinet, a light bulb in hand. “Okay, the good news is that I do have a spare bulb. The bad ones are, I don’t think the coffee table is high enough for me to reach the ceiling lamp above it, I haven’t found anything to put over it as a step, and if I drag the other table there at ten thirty in the evening everyone and their dog is gonna file complaints tomorrow.”
He turned back towards Ami and shrugged. “Guess I’ll have to make do with the kitchen’s spotlights until tomorrow. No big deal, I think I’ll go to sleep right after driving you back to Tomoeda Field anyways.”
Ami looked up at the lamp. “Actually… The ceiling isn’t that high. If you stand on the coffee table and lift me up, I should be able to reach it. The table looks strong enough.”
Sergio rubbed his chin. The table was made of thick wood, and neither of them was very heavy – in fact, with her small frame Ami was surely pretty light. “Let’s give it a try.”
He gave her the spare bulb, and they stepped on the table. Sergio put his arms around Ami’s waist, and lifted her up as much as he could. “This enough?”
“Yes. I’m taking off the old bulb.”
Sergio waited patiently for her to finish, but despite guessing right on her weight he found out his arms were becoming sore quickly. We’ve been up since four in the morning after all.
“Oh, just a little bit more. Almost done, I just need to tighten the new one.”
Sergio felt Ami stretching upwards. I must’ve lowered her a bit without noticing.
Just as he prepared to try and lift her a bit more, though, black fabric fell on his nose. The hell?
He bent his head back to get the fabric off, and he saw Ami’s flustered face. Alongside her naked chest.
Shit!
Sergio placed her down as quickly as he could and looked away from her. “Sorry.”
Madoka-damnit, this feels like something out of a crappy visual novel!
“Uh… Why? The top of my dress slipped down when I stretched up. It wasn’t your fault at all.”
“So… You’re not gonna punch me for seeing them?”
“It was an accident, there’s no reason for me to overreact like a character in a harem comedy anime. Besides… The very fact Hajime was born means that in her timeline the other you saw much more than this. So, hey, I don’t really mind this happened, okay?”
Sergio turned around. It had been enough time for her to fix her dress, after all. “Alright, but it still was one hell of an embarass-”
Ami hadn’t fixed up her dress at all. And, to be fair, while she was covering her breasts with her hands and her face was still flushed, she didn’t look uncomfortable at all with the situation.
“Ami?”
Much to his shock, she crossed her arms behind her back, baring her chest again. “And… I wouldn’t mind if you actually do see more, too.”
***
Nikki turned over in Syaoron’s bed. He fell asleep a while earlier, but she was having trouble doing the same. Something wasn’t sitting well with her, and she couldn’t understand what.
Syaoron clearly liked her for who she was – nothing more, and nothing less. And there was no doubt that she liked him back, as well.
We even both agreed that we’re basically dating already, so doing it was simply the next step.
There was nothing wrong in them having gotten intimate – after all, she had already broken up her relationship with Sergio.
Troubling him with the pale shadow of her old self she was now would’ve been even worse, it was like that old saying – “if you love him, you’ll know when to let him go.”
Then… Why am I feeling so guilty?
***
Ami clenched her fists as she tried to get to sleep, laying next to Sergio. It had happened so… Easily. So naturally. Not completely smoothly, of course – even with Sergio’s best efforts at being as gentle as he could, it was still her first time.
Now that the excitement of the moment had passed, though, she felt her conscience biting back at her. Sure, they technically already had a daughter. And, Nikki had dumped him so he technically didn’t cheat on her.
But this still isn’t right. This isn’t “my” timeline. I should be helping solve this situation, not take advantage of it! This way, I’ll just be enabling her distancing from us!
She closed her eyes. She had fantasized about living that night many, many times – but this wasn’t how she wanted it to happen.
***
“Wakey wakey, everyone,” Corolla shouted as she stood in front of a large holographic window in the briefing room. “We got some intel to work on, and if things are like I believe they are, this is getting out of hand.”
Gino rubbed his temples. Considering the limited number of people that Corolla called there – him, Kathleen and Faith – it was clearly not official Strike Dove business. “I assume this is not something related to Belka but to Nikki?”
“Of course. And to Sergio. And Ami. Let’s go in order.”
Corolla tapped something in a smaller holographic window, and the photo of a bed appeared alongside a series of timestamps and coordinates. “Yesterday at 2012 hours Ami exited Tomoeda Field’s front gate, with Sergio picking her up shortly afterwards. Our previously collected intel suggests they were planning to have a dinner out.”
Faith raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t she just tell us that herself?”
“That’s how we collected that intel. However, as can be guessed by the photo of her untouched bed, she didn’t sleep here tonight. I checked the position of her Device, Moschetto, and the coordinates matched the address of Sergio’s apartment. I remotely downloaded some logs from Moschetto, and her physical logs left no doubt: those two have, let’s say, replicated how Hajime came to be. Well, minus the pregnancy bit, hopefully.”
Kathleen raised an eyebrow. “So, they fucked. You can say that straight, we’re all grown-ups here.”
“Where’s the fun in that? Anyways, that would usually be a good thing, ‘cause it would be the first step towards the Harem Route.”
This time it was Gino’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Harem route?”
Kathleen smiled at him. “Yeah, the plan is to hook up your self-insert with both of them. We can’t have either of his daughters end up with a broken family, can we? They even see each other as sisters already, and I care plenty about my nieces.”
Behind her, Faith smiled indulgently. Gino understood right away the “please bear with them” silent message.
“Anyways, there’s another problem,” Corolla continued. “Someone else decided to extend her dinner date, as well.”
A photo of Nikki appeared on the holographic window.
“We have intel from Hanami that Nikki and Syaoron – who we are suspecting comes from one of the timelines of our world – went out to have dinner together, and like Ami, Nikki stayed out the whole night. Except the latter wasn’t in the arms of the person we wanted her to be.”
“First thing first, you’re not allowed to organize accidents of any kind to Syaoron,” Gino said. ”If he really is an uncanonical Syaoran that originated from Mai Dire Fine… he’s one of my characters as much as you are. Except, in his case, I have little idea of how he acts since last time I wrote him he was a cardboard cutout and not a person. However, from what-”
“Nice of you to tell us right away that you’re useless again.” Kathleen smirked. “Don’t worry, we won’t harm him. We can’t promise their future dates will go on without a hitch, though.”
“Careful, Kath,” Corolla interrupted her. “They have to go badly, yes, but not in a way he can gain sympathy points out of.”
“Stop it, you two.” Faith walked between them, a stern expression on her face. “None of us has any right to force Nikki’s life to go a certain way. Don’t get me wrong – I’ll be the happiest woman on Earth if she gets back together with Sergio, they’re really meant for each other. But if she really made up her mind in a different way… it is not our place to change things against her wishes.”
“Thanks, Faith.” Gino crossed his arms. “Before the two of you go ballistic – and yes, I know you were going to – let me finish what I was saying. From what I understood hearing people who actually met the guy, Syaoron is a lot like Syaoran himself is now, if not even mellower since he doesn’t seem to have magical shenanigans of his own to deal with. Which, unfortunately you’d say, fits exactly in what Nikki wants now – a safe, simple, sweet everyday life. Am I right, Faith?”
Faith nodded. “Yes, that’s exactly the impression she gave me. Her life with us at Strike Dove, not by our fault, ended up hurting her. At the same time, staying around us without fighting at our side, for her, would just be acting like a coward. I’m not sure she fully realizes it, but she’s actually seeking shelter in the people and places from her childhood… from when nothing would try to hurt her, and she was fine not being a fighter.”
“And Sakuras are supposed to be soulmates with Syaorans, so I am not surprised at all that she has some lingering attraction towards one,” Gino continued.
Kathleen’s eyes widened, becoming as round as saucers. “So Sakuras aren’t actually soulmates with Sergios? You’re destroying all I knew of my world.”
“Er… no. ‘Sakura’ was actually a character I and my other partners in crime borrowed from a manga series, Cardcaptor Sakura. You can ask Corolla for more details later. However, the girl I wrote ended up becoming much more than a copy of Sakura, so she’s Nikki now. Rule of thumb: if the ‘Sakura’ is Nikki or derives from her somehow – Hanami, Kurara, Saki – she goes with a Sergio. Otherwise, she goes with a Syaoran.”
“We have a great track record though,” Corolla deadpanned. “Of all the ‘Nikkis,’ one dumped her Sergio, one saw hers die, and the last two died together with theirs.”
“Anyway, you girls are getting distracted here. We don’t need to pull Nikki out of Syaoron’s arms, but from the grasp of her doubts about herself. The plan stays the same.”
Gino walked over to Corolla’s holographic window and erased its contents. “Faith, make sure she does go to her appointments with the therapist. Corolla, instead of coming up with crazy plans, do whatever it takes to get her Device fixed up as soon as possible. Even if you have to go to Osaka to steal the parts under Mariel’s nose, I don’t care. Kath… Uh, I guess you can hang around with her? But don’t interfere – there’s no need to. Syaoron’s actually too plain for her tastes – as soon as she snaps back to being the Nikki we know and love, she’ll dump him herself. But, for now, we have to let her make her own mistakes – she might actually end up giving herself the wake-up call.”
Before any of the girls could say anything, though, the door opened and Johnson walked in, Sergio and Ami in tow.
“Oh, you’re already here,” Johnson said. “That’s good, we have no time to lose. We’ve got an emergency assignment from the NATO coalition.”
***
“As you know, the NATO coalition is continuously launching new spy satellites to get as much coverage as possible of the new continent.”
Johnson projected a map of the continent alongside a CGI image of a satellite and photos of the VF-25 and VF-31 variable fighters.
“What you might not know is that the Coalition is also doing its best to destroy Belkan satellites. This is a field in which the Coalition has complete superiority thanks to some availability of these two aircraft types: the VF-25 Messiah employed by Strategic Military Services, and the VF-31 Kairos and Siegfred variants employed by Xaos.
“They’re much more advanced than the VF-0, and are in fact not only space capable but also able to reach orbit unaided. As such, they’re able to launch satellites at a rate unmatched by Belka’s conventional launches, and perform ASAT missions uncontested since Belka doesn’t have equivalent aircraft, or at least not in meaningful amounts.”
Johnson zoomed on the map, and it was eventually replaced by the satellite view of what looked like a futuristic aircraft carrier somehow parked in the middle of a forest.
“While scouting for possible cordium production locations, the military analysts made another worrying discovery. What you see in this photo is an ARMD-L aircraft carrier, basically the flight deck of a Macross Quarter-class variable space carrier – the original Quarter being the mobile headquarters of SMS.
“This ARMD-L has not been recognized as being part of their inventory, but it crashed in an area currently contested and still likely contains Variable Fighters of their universe and era. It has gone unnoticed until now, but it seems the Belkans have realized its existence roughly at the same time we did. It must not fall in their hands, as it would allow them to close the gap in satellite warfare.”
Johnson smiled. “In fact, the NATO brass is so scared of that possibility, they promised us fifteen percent of the aircraft contained in the target ship if we manage to keep the Belkans off it long enough for it to be salvaged. That’s up to twelve aircraft if the carrier has a full complement of eighty.”
Sergio rubbed his chin. “That’s surprisingly generous, especially since they weren’t willing to give us our VF-0s early even to deal with the cordium problem.”
“It actually makes sense – to nip the production facility in the bud, we need space superiority to pinpoint its location through satellites. And capturing this ship before the Belkans do is vital to maintain said space superiority. The stakes have become so high, they’re willing to pay any price, and I decided ours.”
Sergio nodded slowly. Of course his grandfather had looked into a way to make sure the weight put on their shoulders was worth it.
Ami looked up in thought. “An ARMD-L ship, part of a Quarter-class… So we’re talking about a Macross Frontier-era ship.”
“Exactly!” Corolla confirmed. “Which means juicy stuff like VF-25s!”
Sergio rubbed his chin. “Even if that wasn’t the case, we’d still be looking at VF-171 Nightmare Pluses at worst. Still leagues ahead of what we have.”
“Then I expect you all to put out an excellent performance as usual. However, I’m afraid things will be a little more complicated today.” Johnson sighed. “Eagle 002 is under maintenance as there were no scheduled operations today, and Kuo said it can’t be put back together in time. Ami, you’ll be flying backseat to Sergio today. I took the liberty of asking Scribetto to install those magical pods on Phoenix 016 for you to use. That, alongside the necessary drop tanks to get there on a single flight with no refueling, unfortunately means there are no pylons available for special weapons though.”
Sergio glanced at Ami. “I guess you’ll be the special weapon then.”
“Between my Blaster Bits and my spells, I’ll make sure to not disappoint!”
***
Sergio brought up the fuel panel on the Phoenix’s multifunction display. They were roughly two thirds of the way to the target, so it was time to check if some drop tanks could be jettisoned already. “Looks like the upper drop tanks are empty.”
He glanced at his left. Attached to the fuselage on top of the air intake there was a large fuel tank. “Good riddance, that’s one hell of a blind angle. You ready, Comet?”
“Of course.”
“Lightning to Skystreaker Squadron, I need to drop the top tanks. Stand clear.”
“Robogirl, roger.”
“Knight, wilco.”
He waited a few seconds – those tanks prevented him from even seeing where his wingmen were! – and rolled the aircraft upside down before hitting the button to jettison them.
The two tanks detached, and he rolled the aircraft back straight.
“Seriously, who came up with that?” Ami said. “You shouldn’t need to roll your aircraft to shed the drop tanks!”
“I heard it was something that got added to the design in this world,” Sergio explained. “As you know, the Phoenix guzzles gas like there’s no tomorrow, which was fine for a developmental machine but not so much for full scale deployment in this war. So, since the upper hardpoints meant for the micromissile pods were right on top of the conformal tanks, they decided to plumb them to have drop tanks drain straight into the conformal ones to get that little bit more range.”
“I guess that makes sense, yes.”
There was a chime, and “INTERCOM ONLY REQUEST” appeared on Sergio’s HUD. He accepted it, already knowing what it was about.
He took a deep breath. “It’s about last night, right?”
“Yeah… It was good, but… I don’t think we should’ve done it.”
Sergio nodded slowly. “I’m having second thoughts too. We talked the whole evening on how Nikki was wrong in pushing you into my arms hoping we would be into each other enough to not notice her running away… and then we indeed ended up banging each other behind her back.”
Ami hummed sadly. “And the even worse thing is, she’s in such a bad place that she would actually be happy about it. I… I would rather have her back, chewing me out for this.”
“Same here.” Sergio took a deep breath. “Alright… what’s done is done. Let’s try to not make any more mistakes, shall we?”
***
“You must think I’m a complete idiot,” Nikki said as she lay face down on Sakura’s bed. “You’re here, still mourning your Sergio… and I, who still have mine, am here pushing him away and tossing myself into someone else’s arms.”
“Not so much?” Hanami said, sitting next to her. Nikki felt Hanami’s hand caressing her head. “I kinda understand where you come from. The last couple years… weren’t so nice. I did whatever I could to get him to reason, or even just cheer him up, I really tried everything… but he went all the way down the slippery slope anyway.”
“But you never abandoned him until the end, even when there was no hope left for him.” Nikki punched the pillow. “I distanced myself because they can’t rely on me like this, but…”
She turned her head towards Hanami. “I thought this normal everyday life suited me better. With Syaoron things were even looking like there was chemistry… but last night I still felt like I was cheating despite the fact I had already broken up with Sergio.”
Hanami’s eyes widened. “So last night you and Syaoron really did-”
Nikki sat up. “Yeah. I couldn’t keep my panties on just like a cardboard cutout character from a dating sim. How low I stoop… No way I can show my face to Sergio again. I’m not worthy of him.”
Hanami smiled. “I’m pretty sure Sergio’s actually thinking ‘why is she doing this to herself? Of course she’s worthy of me!’ He will surely forgive you right away!”
Nikki froze. The situation suddenly felt very familiar – but with switched places.
“That’s right.” Sergio lowered his eyes. “Nikki, I like you, but I don’t know if I like you for what you are or just because you look like Sakura a lot. I have to sort out this, and other things, before I can believe to be someone who is worthy of your affection.”
“You already are!” Nikki said with tears coming down from her eyes, “I… I don’t know your past, but… You always look after us… You always try to help everyone… You would even sacrifice yourself for others! If someone like that isn’t worthy…!”
Nikki gulped. I’m… doing the exact same thing he was. An idiot seeks another idiot, I guess.
Hanami grabbed Nikki’s hands. “Everyone is waiting for you, I know you don’t want to fight, but… I think it would mean a lot to them even just to have you around waiting for them to get back. You might not be a pilot anymore but I’m sure you can still make them feel the warmth of your friendship!”
Nikki took a deep breath. She hadn’t thought of that either, lost as she was moping about herself. She had long accepted all of Sergio’s faults, she had no right to say hers were unacceptable when everyone had already stated they accepted them all.
“I can give it a try, yes. I’ll ask if there’s anything I can do to help at Tomoeda Field.” She laughed. “Worst thing that can happen, I end up in the kitchen with Touya… and even then, I can deal with him.”
***
“Knight to Lightning. I think I’ve taken out the last of their Zakus.”
Sergio double-tapped the ordinance release button, sending two missiles after a Flapper. It dodged, only to be hit squarely by a burst of purple orbs from Ami’s Blaster Bits. The two small drones then slowed down to form up again with Sergio’s Phoenix.
“I’m hit, I’m losing thrust!” The Flapper’s pilot shouted. “Schnee Two, pulling out.”
“Schnee One, understood. Our assault units are gone as well, we’re withdrawing.”
Sergio followed the retreating aircraft with his eyes. “Lightning here. Their Variable Fighters are calling it quits. What about their choppers?”
“Robogirl to Lightning, I took care of the last ones. Radar is clear and our own troops will be here soon, I think that’s a wrap. A well wrapped burrito, as Long Caster would say.”
“Great. Good work, everyone. Robogirl, any response from the ship?”
“Nope, it seems to be powered down. If there’s any crew, they fully buttoned up inside.”
“Comet here,” Ami said from the back seat. “If we get closer, I can try an Area Search.”
Sergio nodded. “Please do that. I’m landing on the ship’s deck – hopefully, if they see a Phoenix they’ll assume us to be UN Spacy and not hostile.”
***
Sergio walked down the bridge’s stairs, lowering his Beretta 92. “No one up there either, not even bodies. I guess the ship was brought here by the Unravel without her crew.”
“That’s sad, but good for us,” Ami said. “If the ship had a crew, we wouldn’t be able to lay claim on the planes.”
“Yeah. Speaking of which, at this point we should head straight to the hangars, don’t you think?”
“Of course!”
They proceeded, following the signs dotting the ship’s hull. Only the emergency lights were still running, leaving the corridors barely illuminated by red light, but between those and the flashlight mounted on Sergio’s pistol it was more than enough to get by.
After a while they arrived in front of a slightly ajar sliding double door, labeled “HANGAR” in big letters.
“Bingo,” Sergio said as he walked over. He grabbed one of the doors and pushed to open it, its dead servos resisting but not enough to stop the door. They walked in, and the cone of light of the flashlight illuminated the fuselage of a Variable Fighter.
Sergio closed in. It was a sleek swing-wing aircraft with no horizontal tail planes, but much sleeker than the swing-wing version of the Phoenix. “A VF-25… That’s very good news.”
“Wait, I think I’ve found a control panel.” Ami fiddled with a small console, and there was a whirring sound followed by the hangar’s lights coming on one by one.
Sergio shielded his eyes from the light. “You found the controls for the hangar’s emergency generator? Nice work, now-”
His eyes started getting used to the light, and he remained speechless. In front of them there were rows and rows of VF-25s and VF-31s.
“We scored!” Ami shouted, failing to hide her excitement.
“Well, they look like they’re the basic variants, and we’re only getting a few… but man, these make even my Phoenix completely obsolete. We found the Holy Grail here – both for us and the NATO coalition.”
Ami nodded enthusiastically. Sergio knew what was going on in her mind – with these aircraft, the war was going to be over even sooner.
Wings Of Canon 