Okay, folks, trying to use my vacation time to kick myself back into writing episode 5. In the meantime, here's all of ep 4 for your amusement.
Pirates. A scourge on all of space and time, they evolve in any era when ships transporting valuables sail far from aid. Every civilization produces some of those who will seek to take what they please by main force... and those who will strenuously object to that sort of behavior.
Episode 4 of Super Dimension Magical Girl Lyrical Skitter... hajimarimasu!
Hiiii, mama!
The holo-image of the young blonde ran around a quick circle in front of the camera as Presea watched. Alicia seemed to be growing up so fast these days... she was already twelve, and starting to show just how beautiful she'd be in only a few short years.
Aunt Lindy says to tell you I've been a good girl, but you know that, right? You're Mama!
Presea smiled softly, listening to her first child relate the news of her life. With the Baerzen Institute so far away from the main reaches of Administered Space, they could only exchange these video letters once a month. It was why she'd sent the girl to stay with Lindy Harlaown in the first place. So far away from other children her age, she'd been afraid that Alicia would end up with stunted development, social and educational issues. They'd already had issues because of Presea's own past. She'd hoped that the respected TSAB officer's sponsorship of young Alicia would help to insulate her from that, and it seemed to be working. Alicia certainly looked happy and healthy.
-- and Aunty Momoko has been letting me help in the cafe, just like Nanoha-oneesama! It's really fun, I get to meet lots of people and try lots of sweet stuff! An' there's chocolate just about everything!
Chocolate and coffee were turning out to be among UA97's biggest trade items with the rest of the settled multiverse, so far. That, and maple syrup seemed to be becoming popular in some of the outer colonies.
Presea leaned back, sipping her tea, and smiled again as Alicia spun her stories of her life on Nanoha's 'Earth'. She was enrolled in a local school, mostly for the chance to spend time with other children her age. Presea had left Linith there, temporarily bonded to the Takamachi woman, to tutor Alicia in the subjects she'd need to keep up with Mid-Childan educational standards.
-- Uncle Shiro came by Aunty Lindy's place to train with some of the Bureau fleet people, too! They were really surprised, he isn't a mage but he's really REALLY good at the local Strike Arts. I asked him how he did it an' he said he practiced lots and lots! So I wanted to try it too and I asked Aunt Lindy and she said it was okay since Mama wanted Alicia to grow up healthy and strong and Uncle Shiro's really strong! So I've got lessons three times a week with Kyouya-niisan and he's really nice about it.
And, ooh, ooh, big, big, BIG news, mama! Fate's ship is getting assigned to Aunty Lindy's squadron for wargames! So she's going to be here for a few months, they're arriving next week! I'll beat her up if she doesn't write to you this time!
Her little girl was picking up the local linguistic oddities, Presea noted. Not really an issue, she decided. She's just talking the way her friends talk. Once she's made some Mid-Childan friends, she'll speak properly. The news of Fate's assignment was of somewhat more import. She hadn't heard from the clone-child since the girl had announced that she was entering the Bureau academy with the Takamachi girl.
Alicia was going on about how Fate had promised to take her on a tour of her ship, and something about making chocolates for the Captain, when the lights went out... and the playback stopped.
"Hrist, do you have the entire message?"
"Affirmative, Master," the device replied from its pendant form.
"Good," Presea said, rising from her seat. "Let's go see what's going on, shall we?"
"Cap'n Arboth, sir?" The pirate stood in the middle of the Institute rec room, looking at the slumped, stunned forms of the various people around him.
"What is it, Breslin?" came the Captain's voice, slightly tinny, over his communicator.
"Sir, the client wanted the girl with the civ device, right?"
"That's correct, Centurion."
Breslin nodded, then looked down at the two forms on the couch. "Sir, there's two of them."
"Two of them. Two girls with civilian-grade loaner devices?"
Breslin nodded again. "Yes, sir. Two matches."
"Well, bring them both. The client will take the one he wants, and we'll market the other as a bonus."
"Well, Major? Just how did this happen?"
Tiida Lanster grimaced as he looked across the table at Presea Testarossa. "The pirates were, apparently, provided with our shield security codes. They were able to slip a teleport through the shields and take us by surprise. Two pods of anesthezine gas - one in the rec room, one in the security barracks - disabled ninety percent of our combat-capable personnel. They then ported a squad into the main lab and began removing equipment."
"And another squad into the rec room, apparently, given our missing personnel." Around them, several workers bustled about, repairing damage from the attack - mostly overloaded systems - updating security codes, and removing viruses from the computers.
"That's correct, Doctor. They appear to have absconded with Miss Hebert, Lieutenant Takamchi, Doctor Bishop, and Technician Voyle."
Presea's lips pursed briefly, while a holo-screen displayed the ongoing re-awakening of the base's security platoon. "They seem to be surprisingly well-informed. Doctor Bishop and Mr. Voyle were intimately involved with the design of some of the equipment taken."
"Indeed, Doctor. I still cannot produce an adequate reason for them to have removed Takamachi, however." A corporal in security uniform passed him an e-screen with the new shield lockout codes, he affixed a signature and passed it back to her.
"Neither can I, Major. And that worries me. I understand we have a trace on their ship?"
Lanster nodded. "The tracking unit in Miss Hebert's device is still signalling. From the distortion of the signal we can estimate the speed of their drive, and with that combination..."
Presea smiled thinly. "We can set coordinates for a long-range teleport."
"An extremely risky long-range teleport."
Her smile widened, eyes glittering with anticipation. "Not if I lead the retrieval team. I have some experience with long-range dimensional transfer magics."
Nanoha awoke, woozy and a little nauseous, and automatically reached for Raging Heart's pendant form to activate her Device. It wasn't there, of course, it was still in maintenance being checked on. And here she was, waking up in a probably-locked room with an anesthezine hangover. From the vibration and the slight mana pressure she sensed, probably onboard a ship already in the Dimensional Sea.
On the other bunk, Taylor woke up, as well. She shook her head, spat, and grumbled something under her breath that Nanoha was rather glad she didn't really catch all of. "Where?"
"Pirates, would be my first guess," Nanoha answered her. "They hit us with sleepygas, probably right through the base shields..."
Taylor grimaced, and finally managed to sit up after a minute or so of grumbling and cursing. "Well, shit," she finally said. "Looks like I get to stage yet another prison breakout." She glared at the door. "Wonder how many guards they've got on us?"
Nanoha paused a moment, then walked over to the door. "Are we really sure we're - " locked in, she'd been about to say as she tried the door, only to find it refusing to open. "Okay, we are definitely locked in," she said, then shrugged and pounded on the door a few times with a fist. "Hey! Open up!"
"Shut up in there!" came a coarse, rough voice. Male, and older, Nanoha immediately categorized it. Probably not Bureau-trained.
She shrugged and walked back to take a seat on her bunk. "I didn't hear anything to say there'd be more than one," she said, then took a double-take and glanced back at her hand. They'd left her the cheap civ-grade loaner Device she'd been wearing... and Taylor, grinning, already had hers out, typing away at a page of spell-code.
"Say, Nanoha," her erstwhile guest asked, with a grin. "Just how big of a shot can you get out of one of these things?"
A moment's review of the Device's resources, and her own mana reserves, gave an answer. "I could knock out the guard... maybe two at once. At least keep them distracted for a minute or two." She frowned. "Not enough to blast through that door, though. That's at least half an inch of hullmetal."
"Don't you worry," Taylor assured her. "Skitter is -on- the job. I downloaded a few books on basic defensive spells last night, just to check some things out, and it isn't -that- hard," she continued, fingers still working the keyboard, "to remove a few little safety measures."
She tapped the 'execute' key, and a basic Round Shield appeared next to her left hand, rotating slowly around her hand. She tapped the key again, and a second matched it. When the third appeared, Nanoha realized they were at converging angles, and starting to speed up... a fourth, fifth, and finally sixth joined them before Taylor rather carefully stood up.
"Have to - whoa, careful there - focus on the location parameters," she said. "Don't want to chop my hand off after all the trouble Doc Yamada took to put it on."
Nanoha swallowed heavily. She'd taken risks before, but this - coordinating six entirely separate spells at once? - this really took the cake. She knew she could manage that many blaster balls from a shooting spell, she'd done it before, in her duels with Fate and at the Academy. To manage six counter-rotating shield spells when the slightest misjudgement could cut off your hand? That scared her more than just a little. Possibly scarier was how absolutely casual Taylor was about it.
No, she told herself as her comrade slowly, carefully advanced on the door. Just like in the stories Taylor had told her. It was Skitter now, ready to fight, willing to risk it all for the chance to snatch victory from the jaws of the dragon.
Nanoha called up what mana her own borrowed Device would let her channel, and started forming blaster balls.
-- tsuzuku
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
Pirates. A scourge on all of space and time, they evolve in any era when ships transporting valuables sail far from aid. Every civilization produces some of those who will seek to take what they please by main force... and those who will strenuously object to that sort of behavior.
Episode 4 of Super Dimension Magical Girl Lyrical Skitter... hajimarimasu!
--- * --- 1.4 --- * --- 1.4 --- * ---
Hiiii, mama!
The holo-image of the young blonde ran around a quick circle in front of the camera as Presea watched. Alicia seemed to be growing up so fast these days... she was already twelve, and starting to show just how beautiful she'd be in only a few short years.
Aunt Lindy says to tell you I've been a good girl, but you know that, right? You're Mama!
Presea smiled softly, listening to her first child relate the news of her life. With the Baerzen Institute so far away from the main reaches of Administered Space, they could only exchange these video letters once a month. It was why she'd sent the girl to stay with Lindy Harlaown in the first place. So far away from other children her age, she'd been afraid that Alicia would end up with stunted development, social and educational issues. They'd already had issues because of Presea's own past. She'd hoped that the respected TSAB officer's sponsorship of young Alicia would help to insulate her from that, and it seemed to be working. Alicia certainly looked happy and healthy.
-- and Aunty Momoko has been letting me help in the cafe, just like Nanoha-oneesama! It's really fun, I get to meet lots of people and try lots of sweet stuff! An' there's chocolate just about everything!
Chocolate and coffee were turning out to be among UA97's biggest trade items with the rest of the settled multiverse, so far. That, and maple syrup seemed to be becoming popular in some of the outer colonies.
Presea leaned back, sipping her tea, and smiled again as Alicia spun her stories of her life on Nanoha's 'Earth'. She was enrolled in a local school, mostly for the chance to spend time with other children her age. Presea had left Linith there, temporarily bonded to the Takamachi woman, to tutor Alicia in the subjects she'd need to keep up with Mid-Childan educational standards.
-- Uncle Shiro came by Aunty Lindy's place to train with some of the Bureau fleet people, too! They were really surprised, he isn't a mage but he's really REALLY good at the local Strike Arts. I asked him how he did it an' he said he practiced lots and lots! So I wanted to try it too and I asked Aunt Lindy and she said it was okay since Mama wanted Alicia to grow up healthy and strong and Uncle Shiro's really strong! So I've got lessons three times a week with Kyouya-niisan and he's really nice about it.
And, ooh, ooh, big, big, BIG news, mama! Fate's ship is getting assigned to Aunty Lindy's squadron for wargames! So she's going to be here for a few months, they're arriving next week! I'll beat her up if she doesn't write to you this time!
Her little girl was picking up the local linguistic oddities, Presea noted. Not really an issue, she decided. She's just talking the way her friends talk. Once she's made some Mid-Childan friends, she'll speak properly. The news of Fate's assignment was of somewhat more import. She hadn't heard from the clone-child since the girl had announced that she was entering the Bureau academy with the Takamachi girl.
Alicia was going on about how Fate had promised to take her on a tour of her ship, and something about making chocolates for the Captain, when the lights went out... and the playback stopped.
"Hrist, do you have the entire message?"
"Affirmative, Master," the device replied from its pendant form.
"Good," Presea said, rising from her seat. "Let's go see what's going on, shall we?"
- 1.4 --- * --- 1.4 -
"Cap'n Arboth, sir?" The pirate stood in the middle of the Institute rec room, looking at the slumped, stunned forms of the various people around him.
"What is it, Breslin?" came the Captain's voice, slightly tinny, over his communicator.
"Sir, the client wanted the girl with the civ device, right?"
"That's correct, Centurion."
Breslin nodded, then looked down at the two forms on the couch. "Sir, there's two of them."
"Two of them. Two girls with civilian-grade loaner devices?"
Breslin nodded again. "Yes, sir. Two matches."
"Well, bring them both. The client will take the one he wants, and we'll market the other as a bonus."
- 1.4 --- * --- 1.4 -
"Well, Major? Just how did this happen?"
Tiida Lanster grimaced as he looked across the table at Presea Testarossa. "The pirates were, apparently, provided with our shield security codes. They were able to slip a teleport through the shields and take us by surprise. Two pods of anesthezine gas - one in the rec room, one in the security barracks - disabled ninety percent of our combat-capable personnel. They then ported a squad into the main lab and began removing equipment."
"And another squad into the rec room, apparently, given our missing personnel." Around them, several workers bustled about, repairing damage from the attack - mostly overloaded systems - updating security codes, and removing viruses from the computers.
"That's correct, Doctor. They appear to have absconded with Miss Hebert, Lieutenant Takamchi, Doctor Bishop, and Technician Voyle."
Presea's lips pursed briefly, while a holo-screen displayed the ongoing re-awakening of the base's security platoon. "They seem to be surprisingly well-informed. Doctor Bishop and Mr. Voyle were intimately involved with the design of some of the equipment taken."
"Indeed, Doctor. I still cannot produce an adequate reason for them to have removed Takamachi, however." A corporal in security uniform passed him an e-screen with the new shield lockout codes, he affixed a signature and passed it back to her.
"Neither can I, Major. And that worries me. I understand we have a trace on their ship?"
Lanster nodded. "The tracking unit in Miss Hebert's device is still signalling. From the distortion of the signal we can estimate the speed of their drive, and with that combination..."
Presea smiled thinly. "We can set coordinates for a long-range teleport."
"An extremely risky long-range teleport."
Her smile widened, eyes glittering with anticipation. "Not if I lead the retrieval team. I have some experience with long-range dimensional transfer magics."
- 1.4 --- * --- 1.4 -
Nanoha awoke, woozy and a little nauseous, and automatically reached for Raging Heart's pendant form to activate her Device. It wasn't there, of course, it was still in maintenance being checked on. And here she was, waking up in a probably-locked room with an anesthezine hangover. From the vibration and the slight mana pressure she sensed, probably onboard a ship already in the Dimensional Sea.
On the other bunk, Taylor woke up, as well. She shook her head, spat, and grumbled something under her breath that Nanoha was rather glad she didn't really catch all of. "Where?"
"Pirates, would be my first guess," Nanoha answered her. "They hit us with sleepygas, probably right through the base shields..."
Taylor grimaced, and finally managed to sit up after a minute or so of grumbling and cursing. "Well, shit," she finally said. "Looks like I get to stage yet another prison breakout." She glared at the door. "Wonder how many guards they've got on us?"
Nanoha paused a moment, then walked over to the door. "Are we really sure we're - " locked in, she'd been about to say as she tried the door, only to find it refusing to open. "Okay, we are definitely locked in," she said, then shrugged and pounded on the door a few times with a fist. "Hey! Open up!"
"Shut up in there!" came a coarse, rough voice. Male, and older, Nanoha immediately categorized it. Probably not Bureau-trained.
She shrugged and walked back to take a seat on her bunk. "I didn't hear anything to say there'd be more than one," she said, then took a double-take and glanced back at her hand. They'd left her the cheap civ-grade loaner Device she'd been wearing... and Taylor, grinning, already had hers out, typing away at a page of spell-code.
"Say, Nanoha," her erstwhile guest asked, with a grin. "Just how big of a shot can you get out of one of these things?"
A moment's review of the Device's resources, and her own mana reserves, gave an answer. "I could knock out the guard... maybe two at once. At least keep them distracted for a minute or two." She frowned. "Not enough to blast through that door, though. That's at least half an inch of hullmetal."
"Don't you worry," Taylor assured her. "Skitter is -on- the job. I downloaded a few books on basic defensive spells last night, just to check some things out, and it isn't -that- hard," she continued, fingers still working the keyboard, "to remove a few little safety measures."
She tapped the 'execute' key, and a basic Round Shield appeared next to her left hand, rotating slowly around her hand. She tapped the key again, and a second matched it. When the third appeared, Nanoha realized they were at converging angles, and starting to speed up... a fourth, fifth, and finally sixth joined them before Taylor rather carefully stood up.
"Have to - whoa, careful there - focus on the location parameters," she said. "Don't want to chop my hand off after all the trouble Doc Yamada took to put it on."
Nanoha swallowed heavily. She'd taken risks before, but this - coordinating six entirely separate spells at once? - this really took the cake. She knew she could manage that many blaster balls from a shooting spell, she'd done it before, in her duels with Fate and at the Academy. To manage six counter-rotating shield spells when the slightest misjudgement could cut off your hand? That scared her more than just a little. Possibly scarier was how absolutely casual Taylor was about it.
No, she told herself as her comrade slowly, carefully advanced on the door. Just like in the stories Taylor had told her. It was Skitter now, ready to fight, willing to risk it all for the chance to snatch victory from the jaws of the dragon.
Nanoha called up what mana her own borrowed Device would let her channel, and started forming blaster balls.
-- tsuzuku
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.