Author's Note: First off, this story takes place about the same time as Vivid. Not that those events aren't taking place in this chronology, they're just getting displaced a tad. One other thing. The crux of this story is that Nanoha and her friends are being faced with an overwhelmingly strong opponent, and they have to find some way to defeat him. That means that many people will see the new character introduced here as being overpowered and broken. In the interests of full disclosure and honesty, I will tell you, yes he has several elements which could construe him as a Mary Sue. He's exceptionally powerful, pulls off some crazy plans, and generally comes off looking pretty good. Also, since we're being completely honest, his last name is the saem screenname I used a very long time ago (about 5 years now, I guess), but which I no longer personnally identify with... At this point, it's just a name I use for this character, and maybe sometimes in RPGs. These days, when I think of the name Darkstar, I think of this character. I'm sure some of you are now thinking the author doth protest too strongly, and as readers, you are free to believe that. However, what I believe has to be considered is that, even if a character has traits which make him super-powerful, does that present him from being compelling, and being in a compelling story? I don't believe so, but again, that's for you to judge. And so, aside from my own admittedly silly my blunders regarding which I've gone over, if nothing else, I hope the story is interesting, which is all any author can ask for and that's why I decided to put this up, which, honestly, was not my intention at first; I wrote it because I wanted to write it. In any case, thanks for reading!

ETA 5/8/10: I should have mentioned this before, and do so in the newly uploaded Chapter 4, but there's a lot of background information that's only tangentially relevant to the story that doesn't make it into the main text. I mention some of this in notes at the end of relevant chapters, in case people are curious.

ETA 5/11/10: Upon severstal's and Phillip's input, I've been reworking things a bit, adding more to the backstory, and adding in further exposition--they were correct in pointing out the details weren't fleshed out enough, so I'm trying to correct that, and there may be several edits along the line. One thing to please try and keep in mind is that a lot of details come out slowly over the course of the story, and some things which seem strange may be explained later, so please try and bear with me if you can. Thanks!

Year 0079 New Mid-Childa Calendar…

It was a clear bright day on the world which was the center of the Time/Space Administration. On that beautiful morning, a mother was seeing her daughter off to school, like any ordinary mother might. She bore a cheerful smile, still giving off traces of the innocence which she had long since abandoned, something borne of the realities of her work. She was kind and beautiful. She was also the famed and feared 'Ace of Aces,' the legendary White Devil, Nanoha Takamachi.

"Alright, Vivio. Nanoha-mama will see you when you get home, alright? Have a good day," she told her adopted daughter pleasantly, blue eyes shining with warmth.

Vivio nodded. "OK, Nanoha-mama. Bye-bye!" With a wave, the 9 year old Vivio, a recreation of a powerful ancient Belkan Saint King, was off. Seeing her like this, she would seem to any observer to be simply an ordinary girl.

As Nanoha watched Vivio trot away, she couldn't help but think back to the day when she almost lost Vivio, the day of that horrific battle aboard the Saint Cradle. Gripping her stomach silently, she told herself again firmly that it had all indeed been worth it. While her body might not feel the effects of overusing her Blaster System that day, she still carried those scars. Just as she carried the scars of the pain when she thought she had lost the girl who had inexplicably begun to bring her happiness, and filled a void in her life she hadn't been quite aware existed.

It was a curious thing. While she had many close friends, and enjoyed the people she worked with, she had still never felt entirely whole here in Mid-Childa. Her family hailed from Earth, otherwise known as Un-Administrated Planet 97 to the TSA. As such, she was something of an outsider to the Mid-Childa culture, despite her celebrity and fame for her heroics as a mage in the Aerial Forces. To make matters worse, she had felt like an outsider in her own family before she left, and while she still visited the people she knew on Earth often, she hadn't completely felt like she belonged in either world.

When Vivio entered her life, however, things had begun to change. She finally had someone who truly needed her and her alone, someone to truly call her family. Despite the missteps along the way, mostly due to her own inexperience at raising children, things had gone better than Nanoha could have predicted. Vivio was really her daughter, and she was really Vivio's mother, no matter what their origins. What was in their hearts was what mattered the most to both of them.

Smiling up into the clear azure sky, Nanoha wiped away all thoughts of the past. I won't have any regrets, she thought. Despite the damage that had been done to her body, permanently reducing her magical proficiency, she knew she'd do it again for Vivio's sake. Vivio was her daughter, her family. This was her home now, and she'd fight to defend it, with everything she had.

Planet Arcadia, TSAB Sector 31…

General Goren looked out over the assembled multitude here within the primary hangar of Arcadian Central Defense, the home base of the Arcadian Combined Forces. It had taken painstaking work to construct these facilities across Arcadia under the prying eyes of the TSAB watchdogs. Despite their industrial might and powerful economy, Arcadia was under the direct control of the TSAB. It had been nearly 100 years since the TSAB attacked this world as part of their efforts to bring Dimensional Space under control. Arcadia had been one of the few worlds with the courage to fight the massive navy of the TSAB, and for that, they had paid the price.

Over the past decades, nearly 40 years of effort, they had slowly been working for this day, planning meticulously and patiently, training troops, constructing defenses, even building a handful of ships. The ground and air forces they had envisioned were complete, hidden away from the small TSAB garrison currently occupying their world. All that remained now was to deploy.

As Goren observed the thousands of soldiers awaiting the command, one man approached him. This was the man who would lead the Arcadian forces in the offensive against the TSAB and their headquarters on Mid-Childa. The last man of that once proud line, Commander Andrew Darkstar, Combined Forces Field Commander, the man they were counting on to bring them victory.

There was absolutely no doubt within the minds of any of them that Andrew Darkstar would be their ultimate trump card, their answer to the massive forces and famed aces of the TSAB, a man whom Goren had trained himself from boyhood with only one goal in mind: to defeat any enemy he might engage, to be their ace among aces. He was the single most powerful weapon in their arsenal, and they were going to unleash him, here and now.

Andrew approached General Goren with his typical quiet fashion. He was a tall, athletic man, who, despite his clear strength and charisma, seemed to have a sense of modesty—or was it only self-deprecation?—about him—until he engaged the enemy. At that point, there was nothing but a deadly air of competence surrounding him, the cold and calculating killer his own men feared as the Black Reaper.

"General, are the preparations complete?" he asked in a low voice, glancing out at the soldiers who waited with bated breath.

The older man looked over at the all too young officer who was their only hope. The man he had gruelingly trained from youth to be the brightest star in their constellation. "Yes, Commander, preparations are complete. Your forces will be the tip of the spear. Once you neutralize the perimeter and establish a landing zone, General Lagan's forces will follow you in," answered Goren.

Andrew nodded slowly and looked again at the soldiers he would be commanding. He had personally devised much of their training program, and had worked directly with many of the top squadrons. Now was the time to see if it had all gone according to their plan. "You all know what is expected of you," he told them over the loudspeaker, favoring a more direct approach. "I don't need to remind any of you of your duties. Fight with courage, remember your training, remember why we're fighting." He paused, face falling into a more stern expression, readying himself for the battle. "Prepare for launch!"

Within moments, the hangar doors began to open, shining bright daylight into the interior. Andrew gave General Goren one last look and a curt nod before taking off like a bolt into the sky. Behind him, the aerial squadrons formed up and did the same, swarming into the sky towards their objective.

General Goren watched the procession silently for a long moment before speaking. "Good luck, Commander. Come home alive."

TSAB Garrison, Arcadia…

Sergeant Kellin settled himself in, glancing at the monitors. It seemed a little silly to him, to be keeping constant satellite surveillance of this planet for all this time. It was true, the Arcadians had been somewhat troublesome in the past, and there was still a separatist sentiment on the planet. However, violent confrontations between the TSAB and pro-Arcadian independence forces hadn't occurred in over a decade. It seemed a pretty clear waste of money and personnel to be watching over a planet that wasn't about to cause any real trouble.

Next to him, Private Birg frowned. "Uh, Sergeant? I have some movement on monitor 23-5."

Now it was Kellin's turn to frown as he tuned his own monitors to that image. "I don't see anything, Private. Are you certain?"

Birg nodded. "Positive, sir. I know I saw something right…" As he extended a hand to point out the offending sector to Kellin, the monitor suddenly went offline, displaying the message "Signal Interruption."

Kellin's frown turned to shock. "What the? What happened? Run a diagnostic, fast."

As Birg bent over to perform the procedure, another private turned away from his station. "Sergeant, we have other satellites dropping offline, fast! We've lost coverage over 80% of the southern continent!"

Kellin looked about frantically as monitors cut out all around him. This couldn't possibly be happening, could it? He turned to Birg. "Get me a replay of 23-5 right before it cut out," he ordered.

Birg nodded and brought the signal up. Kellin's eyes widened in horror. On the far edge of the screen, hundreds of aerial mages were in flight, advancing west. And on the bottom of the screen, a craft of unknown configuration was approaching the camera, a deadly flash emanating from it.

Kellin sank back in his chair. "Don't bother with the diagnostic. The satellites have been destroyed. We're under attack." Taking a deep breath, he told Birg, "Signal battle alert. The Arcadians are moving."

An hour later, Andrew stood atop the rubble of the TSAB Garrison base. The mages there had put up a fight, but had been hopelessly outclassed and outnumbered. The battle had been over in minutes. He turned to one of his officers. "The entire satellite system was destroyed, along with the orbiting patrol?"

The officer nodded. "Yes sir. We don't think they got a transmission off to Mid-Childa, however."

Andrew shook his head. "It doesn't really matter. Whether they did or not, our best move is to launch the assault immediately. Tell General Lagan to prepare his forces for departure. I want the aerial strike force moving out in less than an hour. We can let the home forces deal with cleaning up here."

Without a further word, Andrew launched into the sky to meet up with the awaiting transport fleet and assault craft that would make up the vanguard of the Mid-Childa attack force. Victory was all that was important, and that required them to move quickly. Andrew gritted his teeth. The hard part hadn't even begun.

Mid-Childa, TSAB Ground HQ…

Inspector Verossa Acous, TSAB Special Investigations, strode quietly down a white corridor, heading towards a conference room to meet with Admiral Chrono Harlaown of the Dimensional Navigational Forces and Colonel Hayate Yagami, also of Special Investigations. However, his thoughts were far from the meeting at hand, which concerned Lost Logia reports. His mind was currently consumed by disturbing reports out of Sector 31 were had only just reached him.

Stepping into the room, he nodded at the two others waiting for him. "Chrono, Hayate, good to see you," he greeted briefly.

The meeting progressed smoothly as the three traded reports and information. After several minutes however, Acous was startled out of his thoughts when Hayate asked him, "Verossa, you've been distracted the entire time. Is something bothering you?"

Verossa blinked, not realizing just how badly he had been flaking out. "Sorry, you two. I just had a report come in before I came here, and it's worrying me."

Chrono frowned. "What kind of report? Is it related to a Lost Logia case?"

Verossa shook his head. "No, it's not that. Apparently, we've lost contact with the monitoring forces in Sector 31. A patrol was sent to investigate, but they haven't arrived yet. It's probably nothing, but…"

Chrono nodded, understanding immediately. "But Arcadia is located in Sector 31 isn't it. That could be a problem."

"It's true," agreed Verossa, "though there hasn't been any activity on that front for quite some time now. Still, I can't help but wonder whether they're up to something."

Hayate looked between the two of them. "What's Arcadia? I've been trying to study up on TSA history, but I don't think I've heard of a place named that before."

Chrono sighed heavily to himself. "I'm not surprised. People don't like to talk about it. It's not something a lot of people in the TSAB are proud of... It might have been necessary then, but… I don't know. What they ended up doing was terrible, no matter the justificatons."

Verossa nodded. "It was certainly not one of our finest moments, that's for certain. The only reason it isn't a major point of contention in society today is that nobody talks about it."

Hayate frowned. "That doesn't sound pleasant. I know even the TSAB has things in its past people aren't proud of, but… I don't think I've heard either of you talk like this. Could you tell me about it?"

Chrono glanced at Verossa, then nodded. "Alright. I'll tell you what I can…"

Two days later…

Captain Nanoha Takamachi was alone in her large home, putting herself through the chores which she was only now getting used to. It had been much easier when she lived in the dorms on base, where housekeeping was done by staff. It had been something of a challenge when she took her leave of absence to raise Vivio, getting used to doing all the cooking and cleaning herself. Truth be told, Nanoha didn't see herself as much of a homemaker, despite the family she had created with Vivio. She had spent so much of her life fighting and protecting people that it had left little time for other pursuits. She was even more envious of her mother nowadays than she had been when she was young, now that she understood just what entailed raising a child.

As she packed away and folded the last of the laundry, the communications screen in the main den chimed, indicating a call. As she stood to answer it, she saw the seal of the TSAB emblazoned. That sight elicited a frown from the auburn haired woman, as it could only mean official business. Even a call from one of her friends in the service wouldn't have an official TSAB emblem.

Pressing the receive button, she answered, "Yes?"

A man she didn't recognize appeared on the screen, but he wore the uniform of a Major in the Aerial Forces. "Captain Takamachi? This is Major Larim, Aerial Forces Personnel Department. I'm calling to inform you that you're being recalled to active duty, effective immediately. You're to report to 12th Aerial Squadron HQ for orders."

Nanoha blinked in surprise. Whatever she might have expected the call to concern, this was certainly not it. "Um, pardon me, sir, but could you tell me what this is about?"

The major paused for a moment before sighing heavily and nodding. "I suppose I can tell you that much. There's been a crisis. Enemy forces have landed on Mid-Childa, and we're mobilizing all Aerial Forces. That's all I know, Captain."

Despite all her years of experience, all the major incidents she had resolved, this proclamation still shocked her. Enemy forces? Landing on Mid? That was unthinkable, impossible. "Th-thank you, major," she managed to reply. The major gave her a last nod and ended the transmission, leaving Nanoha alone with her thoughts in a house that seemed far emptier than it had only a few moments ago.

Arcadian Combined Forces landing site…

There were only a few hundred aerial mages present. These were the crack troops of the Arcadian Combined Forces, such as they were. Truth be told, the only real combat any of them had seen was against the TSAB garrison on Arcadia, and a little action against the patrol above their world. They hadn't even engaged any defenses in the skies over Mid-Childa, leaving that to the Naval and Ground forces that would follow them once they had secured the area.

Of course, despite the fact that they were on the ground, securing the area was going to take more than that, Andrew Darkstar knew. He stood with his squadron leaders, outlining the plan for the next few hours.

"The TSAB has to know we're here," he told them, bringing up a digital map of the surrounding terrain. "Their satellite reconnaissance undoubtedly picked up our landing, but we do have the advantage in that it's unlikely they're aware of our total force strength. However, don't rely on that. We need to establish a defensive perimeter and hold out for a period of no less than 18 hours. That's how long it'll be before the cruisers and heavy transports arrive with the main body of our troops." Pointing out the key defensive positions around them, he continued, "Double squadrons at all these locations, progressive deployment. Skirmishers and response groups with the main body in the center, specific deployment at your discretion. Remember, the TSAB fast response aerial units are going to be composed of mostly A and AA ranked mages, so you won't be outmatched as far as actual skill. Keep things tight and don't pick a fight you can't win. We only need maintain a wide enough perimeter for landing; we can give a little ground so plan your fallback points accordingly." He closed down the map, looking over his hand-picked commanders. "I'll be with the center unit initially, setting up a preliminary CP so we can begin operations immediately when General Lagan arrives, but I want to know immediately when TSAB forces are spotted. Anticipate them coming in force in about 10 hours, but keep your eyes open, and don't let your guard down. Any questions?" The men before him shook their heads, grim determination written on all their faces. They knew what was expected, and they knew what to do. Andrew nodded grimly. This was where it would truly begin. "Take your stations. Good luck."

Andrew watched the men and women depart for their stations, each one confident and strong, as they had been trained to, each one believing powerfully in the Arcadian cause, as they had been brought up to. Andrew knew better than to think that their belief would protect them, however. He had only 214 personnel on Mid at the moment, against the thousands of soldiers the TSAB could throw against them. Gripping the steel gray links set with an electric blue crystal around his right wrist that was his intelligent device, he stared with hard hazel eyes into the evening sky above him, the stars beginning to shine against the darkening azure field above him. There would be terrible costs for this war. He could only hope the price they would pay would be worth it in the end.

12th Aerial Squadron Assembly Area…

Nanoha reached the 12th Squadron HQ less than an hour after concluding her call with Major Larim, departing after contacting Sister Schach at the school to let her know that the house would be empty when Vivio returned. She desperately hoped that this would be an incident that could be resolved quickly, that she might return to the peace and happiness she had worked so hard to achieve.

Greeting her was a young NCO who led her into the command center, where the squadron leader was looking over a large map with his staff. As Nanoha approached, he looked up and waved her over.

"It's good to have you here, Captain Takamachi. I'm Major Day, commander of 12th Squadron," he told her in an efficient tone. Nanoha could tell immediately that this man was a consummate professional. That would bode well.

"Thank you, sir. I didn't get much from the Personnel officer who summoned me, so I'm a bit short on details," she remarked, glancing at the map, which she could tell was showing a fairly large and coordinated troop deployment.

The Major nodded gesturing to the map. Nanoha trained her attention on the details he went over. "For now, we're on standby. A fast response group of 20 has already departed for the target coordinates to assess the situation. The main force is going to compose of us and five other squadrons that will attack once we have confirmation. The timetable currently calls for the primary force to go in about 10 hours, with about a 4 hour flight time to the target area." He looked back up at the much younger Captain who would undoubtedly vastly outrank him had she accepted any of the myriad promotions that had been offered to her over the past several years. "Captain, you're going to be the leader of the main attack force." He held up a hand to quell any immediate protests. "It's true you won't be the highest ranking officer participating, but your combat experience and magic rating are way above any else we've got on hand to deal with this. While a few Navigational Forces elements have been recalled as a precautionary measure, it's up to us for the time being. Significant Ground Forces units can't be on site for another 20 hours, and this battle will either be won or lost by then."

Nanoha nodded silently. So it really would be her and a handful of other aerial mages. Turning again to look at the tactical map, she could only wonder why fate seemed to keep choosing her for these moments. Turning back to Major Day, she told him, "If you don't mind, sir, I'd like to head to the main assembly point now. I think it'd be bad if I didn't familiarize myself with the troops I'm supposed to be leading at least a little bit."

The Major nodded. "Of course, Captain. Corporal Mann can show you the way," he said, waving over the NCO who had led Nanoha in a moment earlier.

Striding out, Nanoha took one last look at the tactical monitor. The initial reconnaissance force was only an hour or so from contact with the enemy. And then they'd know just who these people were and what was going on.

Arcadian Landing Zone, 50 minutes later…

Commander Andrew Darkstar stood like an immovable monolith, watching the now dark sky. If his prediction was correct, the first TSAB forces should be arriving momentarily. Then they'd see just what this battle was going to take. Despite the satellite reconnaissance, which they could easily predict, the key factor for gathering intelligence for the TSAB was still going to be the force they sent in to scout out the enemy forces. Because of that, it would be imperative to destroy that force quickly and completely to make sure as little information as possible made it back to their superiors. If his troop deployments and overall strength remained mostly secret, it would give him at least a small advantage when the main attack force from the TSAB arrived.

He felt a little strange, now that he was standing here, on the surface of Mid-Childa. He had dedicated his life for this moment, before he even understood what it would mean. And now, in the darkness, he couldn't help but feel the worries and doubts beginning to gnaw at him. He had been just a child when he had started training for this, to be the one unbeatable weapon the Arcadians would possess, not even knowing really why they were fighting. All that you're told when you're a 10-year old boy is that your world is in danger, and you're the only one who can save them, that you have to become a hero. But as he grew older, and began to replace dizzying fervor with caution and wariness.

The TSAB had been trying to unite the planets within Dimensional Space, to instill a rule of common law and to contain the dangerous technologies and magic which had previously destroyed Al Hazard and later Belka. It was a goal Andrew could appreciate; the Belkan outpost on Arcadia, a remnant of the ancient empire, certainly attested to the terrible war that had raged amongst those people. It had been abandoned in lieu of the Belkan Unification War, and the settlements that had grown around it became Arcadia. And so the TSAB romped across Dimensional Space, uniting the worlds, most peacefully, others… not so much. There had been some worlds that had fought immediately with no warning, rather than just demanding the TSAB go away and not come back as Arcadia had done. In any event, the Arcadians were left alone… At least for a little while. When they finally returned, it was near the end of the Dimensional War, when their numbers blotted out the sun, with the strength of dozens of worlds behind them. Even so, his people refused to capitulate. It was said that the fiercest battles of the entire Dimensional War were fought there, at the end, over the skies of Arcadia.

Andrew wondered just how it happened that the TSAB fleet, the self-declared keepers of Dimensional peace, had decided to take such a tack against them, how anyone could make such a decision, but however it had happened, faced with horrific casualties amongst their force, they had demanded that Arcadia surrender and turn over any technology the TSAB deemed dangerous, or face destruction. However it had exactly transpired, the results were all too obvious: tens of millions dead, and the TSAB all too eager to sweep the events under the rug, still too afraid and still too prideful of their self-assigned role as universal peacekeepers to do anything more than make Arcadia an Administrated World and keep them under watch. And now the current Council was still too ashamed to correct their past mistakes… An all too common theme in politics. And as the years went by, his people had become only more and more frantic at their plight.

Shaking his head ever so slightly, he tried to shake off those dark thoughts. He didn't serve anyone by drowning in his own fears and conflicts. If he wanted to execute this plan the way he had to, he needed to be strong, to be impersonal. The only way he could win now, and have a chance to free his world, was to be the killer they had trained him to be.

"Commander…"

He turned, finding an aide standing a rather appreciable distance behind him. He resisted the urge to smile in amusement at the aide's rather obvious fear. Apparently this one must never have served directly with him, otherwise they'd know he didn't indiscriminately maul people who snuck up behind him.

"What is it, Sergeant?"

"We've gotten an initial response from the detection field we've set up. TSAB aerial forces are inbounds. We don't have them visually yet, however," reported the NCO.

Andrew nodded. "Alright. I'm on my way."

Without a further word, Andrew quickly made his way to the command area, where a small tactical display had been set up under a canopy, with the terrain and their troop deployments laid out.

"Tell me what we know so far," he ordered the nearest technician.

Pointing towards an area in the northwestern quarter, the tech told him, "We detected movement coming from this area, approaching at high speed."

Studying the map for a moment, Andrew pointed out a few nearby squadrons. "Have these two deploy skirmishers along this line, but don't open fire immediately. We want to draw them in a bit. We need to take down as many as we can in our initial volley. Also, have the neighboring squadrons deploy heavy skirmishers in flanking positions here and here. We don't want to be caught off guard, and they'll be in prime position to cut off any potential escapees if it comes to that."

While his orders were relayed to the proper units, Andrew watched the map, trying to think ahead of his potential opponent. On a scouting mission like this, it was unlikely they'd come in more than one direction, but they could be spread out. They were at least fairly competent, since they were coming in over the lowlands, rather than trying to pop up over the low mountains to the south. While it would technically give the attack force the element of surprise, it also meant that they'd be completely blind to an enemy force in wait at the base of the mountains, and could be cut to ribbons quickly. Well, it wasn't as if they didn't know there were enemy forces in the area. However…

He turned to one of the standby force commanders. "Lieutenant, I want you to take five of your best men, and deploy them out here, on the extreme western flank. The enemy may keep a few support mages in reserve to prevent themselves from being wiped out in an ambush. Use your discretion, but don't engage unless you absolutely have to."

The officer nodded and moved off, gathering personnel at the assembly area before taking off. Andrew returned his attention to the tactical monitor, waiting for the enemy to appear with bated breath. He knew this would be his first real test. He also knew he could not fail, ever. His superiors in the Combined Forces and the politicians in the Senate had built him up to be their living legend, their hero, and if he could not deliver a complete victory every time, morale would be shattered. So he had no choice but to succeed, or watch everything they had worked for all these years collapse in fire.

12th Squadron Assembly Area…

Nanoha was chatting with the other squadron leaders, who were as diverse as 1st Lieutenants with their first combat commands to Majors with long service histories behind them, hanging onto their last combat command until being shunted behind a desk for younger officers. Nanoha knew that some soldiers wished for an early death on the battlefield rather than being trapped in an office for the latter part of their lives. She had to admit, even she could understand the attraction of such a fate; despite—or perhaps because of—the difficult and exhausting trials she had faced, she couldn't conceive of herself sitting behind a desk sending others out to fight in her place, their lives being nothing more than lights on a board. With the life she'd led over the past few years, however, she firmly understood that her first responsibility was to come home alive to Vivio. More than that, she had a responsibility to bring those under her command back home alive as well to their families. That was the true reality of what it meant to be a training officer, she now understood—to bring as many people home alive as possible through what she could teach them.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts; it wouldn't do well to dwell on her younger, more reckless days now, only minutes before a battle was about to commence, and only a few hours before she herself would be leading others into combat. Her mind had to be clear, her spirit focused, or she'd find herself shot down alongside many others.

Departing the gathering of the squadron leaders, she could feel many of their eyes still on her. She resisted the urge to sigh to herself. She knew that many mages within the TSAB admired her as the Aerial Forces 'Ace of Aces,' and even more so—despite their efforts to keep it a secret from her—that many more referred to her as 'The White Devil,' but she still couldn't help but feel a little exasperated at the awe or fear some held for her. She had never minded Subaru's admiration, as it hadn't affected her duties, but she had met some who had. Though they were fortunately few and far between, there had been more than one recruit Nanoha had either had to have transferred or dropped from the training entirely for their inability to maintain a professional air at appropriate times. While her fame didn't irritate her—after all, it was her own fault she was famous (or infamous some would say). However, it could be tiresome from time to time.

As she glanced around the assembly area, a few more mages arrives here and there, the last few members of what would be the main attack force dribbling in over the past several hours. Checking her watch, she noted that initial contact with the enemy was expected within minutes. They hadn't heard anything yet from the reconnaissance force, however, which Nanoha found somewhat strange. Even if they weren't in visual range, shouldn't the scanners have detected the presence of unknown troops in the vicinity?

As if answering her mental questions, the large screen on the far wall flickered to life, displaying the predicted engagement zone. A voice Nanoha didn't recognize, whom she presumed must be the strike leader, crackled through the speakers.

"We're closing in on the engagement zone. We still haven't picked up anything. There seems to be some non-localized interference; we can't locate the enemy positions from the sources."

"Lieutenant, we're preparing to fan out and begin the search pattern," another voice reported.

"Very well. Stay alert and don't take any unnecessary risks," ordered the first voice. "We need to report back, so…"

Suddenly, distinct sounds of magical weapons fire burst into a deafening cacophony in the background. Immediately, signals indicating the position of members of the recon screen began winking out, and screams could be heard interlaced on the speakers. Enemy positions began to light up all around the incoming TSAB force as the interference began cutting out, the enemy abandoning their hiding places.

Nanoha's eyes widened as she watched the battle unfold, helpless to do anything to stop it. A squadron lieutenant stepped up next to her, shock written on the young woman's face. "They've walked right into an ambush," she whispered.

Nanoha flicked a glance at the other woman. "Yes. And a very well planned one, too." At the look of uncertainty the lieutenant gave her, she pointed to the map. "See? They positioned flanking lines to cut off axes of escape, and form a closure maneuver. Because we can't get good satellite surveillance at the moment for visuals, the only way for us to gather meaningful intelligence is to send troops out there. However, if they can eliminate our scouting force, the only information we'll get is from these transmissions."

Nanoha tightened her fists silently, not allowing her frustration and dismay to show on her face. It was all too impersonal. People were being shot down, possibly killed, and all she could see was a light winking out on a screen. She could hear Major Day desperately relaying orders now, trying to get the force organized for a retreat. However, the enemy commander seemed to have prepared for such, and had moved a small blocking force to cut off a direct escape. They'd have to fight their way out if they intended to return.

Arcadian Combined Forces Landing Area…

Andrew Darkstar watched the final moments of the brief but fierce skirmish, withholding the sigh of relief he felt. This was his first true test, whether or not the plans he had laid would catch the TSAB mages off guard or not. It had clearly worked this time, and better yet, few of his forces had needed to reveal themselves for the battle. A prudent commander would likely guess his total actual strength to be somewhere on the order of 60-120% greater than what they had witnessed. In other words, the TSAB would likely assume his total strength to be somewhere on the order of 100 mages, when in truth he had twice that. Still, it wouldn't do for he himself to grow overconfident, as that was part of what had led the TSAB to defeat in this initial battle. Their next attack would be far larger in scope, and he would need to alter the defensive positions, lest the enemy know where they would be beforehand.

On a more positive note, it seemed that their detection interference had worked at least somewhat successfully. He glanced over at the four mages responsible for creating randomized pockets of disturbance throughout the surrounding area with their spell. It might be necessary for them to take a short break for the next couple hours, he reflected thoughtfully. It seemed unlikely another attack would occur before then, so he could probably pull back his defenses for a short spell.

When he turned back to look at his squadron leaders, he saw that their professionalism and training couldn't quite hold back the expression of exultant victory they felt inside. Allowing a sliver of smile to show on his own face, he addressed them briefly. "You and the rest of the men did well this first engagement," he told them, a slight edge taken off his usual stern manner. "Make sure to modify defensive positions, and don't relax your guard. The Administration Bureau will send a larger attack force soon. The real battles have only just begun."

Recovering some of their protocol, the men and women nodded sharply and moved to execute his orders swiftly and efficiently. Andrew and a few technical personnel were soon the only ones remaining at the tactical display. After another moment, Andrew found himself turning away from the monitor, looking again into the sky, wondering when the next battle would occur, and what the costs would be then.