A/N: I LIVE! Anyway, sorry about the long wait in between updates. I've decided to keep the story on Earth for a few more chapters before returning to Tristain, said chapters being composed of some training simulations, explanations on magic, and some real combat. In addition to this, I will be also using these chapters to help set the stage for Louise's return. Now, without further ado, on to the story!

Chapter 4- Training- Part 1

Saito Hiraga peered through the scope of his focus sniper, scanning the desert sands for even the slightest hint of movement. In this particular mission, Warlord squad was dropped into a stalemated combat zone with instructions to break the stalemate in humanity's favor. Stealth was key, and when your enemy has cameras that can spot footprints in the sand from high orbit, 'Leave no trace' took on a whole new meaning. Simple camouflage wasn't enough to stay hidden, not when said cameras were mounted on invisible drones and scout mechs that prowled the sands, leaving only the barely noticeable movements of tiny clusters of sand grains to mark their passing. It was those miniscule disturbances that Saito was seeking out, them being his only hope of spotting the otherwise invisible alien wraiths that prowled the dunes, seeking to mark human targets for the alien artillery, which would strike with unerring accuracy and speed, leaving nothing behind but dust and ash.

Of course, Saito would be a fool to not mask himself in a similar manner. His armor had a cloaking device mounted on it, which used runes to bend light of all spectra around him, making him invisible to any light based scanner. Meanwhile, his feet had small modules that used more runes to completely eliminate any sound coming from his footsteps, and almost completely prevent his feet from disturbing the sand. Almost was key there. Even a single grain of sand moving in an unexpected manner would draw fire in the game of cat and mouse that Warlord squad was currently playing. Thankfully, his equipment was designed to allow him to not only survive, but dominate in this environment. Runes really were amazing things once computer cutters were designed that could cut them perfectly at the atomic level to allow said runes to function perfectly. After all, a rune was simply a set of lines within a circle, which were arranged in a desired pattern and had a charged magic circuit artificially laid into them, but they could work wonders. It was wonders like this that kept humanity in the war.

Suddenly, Saito's eyes zoomed in on a slight disturbance in the sand. To most observers, it was as if there was simply a gust of wind making slight ripples, but to Saito's trained and augmented eyes, the tracks of the many, wire thin feeler-legs of the alien Wraith scout drone. Charging a spell, Saito prepared to dispose of the wraith, just like in training. Simply shooting it wouldn't do, as a wraith's internal computers were so fast that they could actually triangulate a sniper's position and send said information to its masters in the time it took for a particle beam travelling at near light speed to reach and destroy it, thus allowing the aliens to snipe the sniper- with artillery. As such, Saito had to rely on other means to eliminate the threat.

Pulling the trigger, Saito pushed magic through the hundreds of magic circuits present in his gun. A magic circuit was simply a pathway made for magically conductive material, which allowed for extremely efficient projection of magi, both inside and outside the augmented body of a Magika Corpsman. In this particular case, the earth elemental magic, invisible to the naked eye, flew through the air at the speed of light, hitting the ground below the wraith and causing a set of walls to raise up around the robot, before said walls moved in and crushed it.

Saito knew that his position, which was inside the crashed hulk of an alien battleship that had been downed over the Sahara Desert during the initial stages of the invasion, had likely not been given away, but even the twitch of his finger against his focus gun's trigger could have been enough to alert the enemy. As such, Saito did a quick scan for other alien scouts, finding none, before repositioning, moving three decks higher and about four hundred meters to the left of his previous position. Setting up his sniper again, Saito linked part of his visor back to his rifle scope, while another part kept to normal vision, which he zoomed in to allow for him to scan multiple areas at once, one through tiny movements of a complex set of mirrors in his scope, while the other through rotations of a camera array hidden just beneath the concealing armor of his visor.

"Warlord 1, come in. This is Warlord 3. I have located an enemy armored column. Three Class 4 titans and one Class 3 escorting a large force of hovertanks and troop transports. I'm marking it for an airstrike now." The voice of David Miller sounded through his comms.

"Good work. Where were they going?" Saito asked.

"They were heading east-southeast, about thirty kilometers from your position, parallel to our own lines."

"Head in the opposite direction. They were bound to come from somewhere. Any landmarks they were following?"

"None really, but I should be able to follow the titans' tracks."

"Good. Warlord 1 out." Saito said, cutting the commlink. A few moments later, Saito saw a cloud of dust and smoke in the distance, most likely from the airstrike that had just been called in. Noting it, Saito went back to scanning for enemy scouts.

Several minutes later, another voice filled his helmet.

"This is Warlord 8. I've found an artillery park, but it's protected by anti-air emplacements. An airstrike would be suicide, and artillery wouldn't be able to do enough before counter-battery fire took them out." Louise reported.

"Don't worry, we've got another way to take them out. How many AA emplacements are there?" Saito asked.

"There's only one, but it's too big and well guarded for me to take out without getting into a prolonged engagement." Louise replied.

"Allright. Hang in there for a second Warlord 8." Saito said before breaking the connection with his familiar and opening a comm channel to Warlord 5.

"Warlord 5. How many SODS do you have left?" Saito asked.

"I've got two. What do you need taken out?" Jason Yarrick asked in return.

"Louise will give you the targeting information. For now, make sure you're clear, then set them up." Saito said, before starting to speak with Louise again.

"Warlord 8, do you still have your UAV on you?" Saito asked.

"Yes. I still have mine." Louise replied.

"Good, that will make things easier. Launch it over the AA emplacement and send the required targeting information to Warlord 5." Saito ordered. "Warlord 5, once you're clear and set up, fire the SODS on the positions marked by Warlord 8. Don't get caught." Saito said, before cutting off communication.

The ML-78 Stealth Ordinance Delivery System was a fairly old weapon that had been modernized for use in the alien war. It took the form of a simple, tripod mounted launch rail, capable of being set up in under a minute, upon which sat a cloaked missile, usually with a small fusion or a plasma warhead, its cloaking field extending to the tripod. Said missile carried precise targeting computers, which would receive targeting data directly from the user's suit HUD. The missile would then be fired remotely at the target, as the missile leaving the launch rail would cause a very noticeable disturbance, despite the missile itself being cloaked and using a powerful jet of magic propelled air to direct itself, rather than a conventional rocket motor. In addition, the tripod would then be de-cloaked upon the missile's firing, as it lacked its own cloaking field, relying on the missile's field extending over it. This de-cloaking would be almost begging for a volley of counter fire on your position, which meant the user had to get clear before firing. However, the missile itself was nearly undetectable, being invisible on all light spectra, and runic arrays almost completely eliminated any disturbance it would make in the air. Having a range of hundreds of kilometers and being perfectly accurate against stationary targets, even at that distance, the ML-78 was the perfect weapon for eliminating the alien AA defenses that would otherwise have torn apart any aircraft that could have attacked the artillery and troops they were protecting. It was through this tactic that Saito had eliminated the defenses of two artillery batteries personally, and it was now about to happen again.

"Warlord 5 here. I'm set up and receiving targeting information. I'll fire as soon as I'm clear." Warlord 5's voice sounded once again. Then, about ten seconds later, Jason spoke again.

"Firing now."

Louise lay down upon the desert sand, peering through her rifle at the distant artillery battery with one part of her HUD, while another linked to her UAV, giving her a bird's eye view of the enemy guns. Yet another part of her HUD allowed her to see as if normal, letting her keep an eye out for enemy movement around her. However, Louise was currently focusing on her UAV's view of the target, as Jason had fired less than 20 seconds previously, and she wanted to see if the desired result had been achieved before calling in the airstrike.

A pair of explosions, less than half a second apart suddenly showed up on all three of her HUD's displays, although each was from its own perspective. Switching the UAV to radar mapping, Louise saw that the AA emplacement had been destroyed. Marking the positions of each of the gun batteries, Louise called in the airstrike. It came about 30 seconds later in the form of a series of barely visible blurs, followed by the artillery batteries going up in flames. Her target destroyed, Louise recalled her UAV, the section of her HUD taken up by its camera display returning to normal. That clear segment, however, allowed her to glimpse hundreds of tiny streaks rising in the distance, coming from the human battle line. It seemed that now that the artillery covering that particular area had been destroyed, the various missile carrying vehicles in that area were free to fire away at known enemy targets in the short period of time before another artillery battery could zoom in to focus on them. The missile crews doubtlessly knew that they had barely a minute to fire their payloads, and they made the most of the moment, quickly firing off entire racks of missiles before relocating at top speed. Some wouldn't make it out before alien counter-fire hit them, but most would make it out alive.

Several of the missiles passed overhead, and Louise decided to follow them. Standing up, Louise proceeded deeper into enemy territory, moving slowly and carefully, mindful of the fact that even a single grain of sand moving a millimeter in the wrong direction would give her position away.

It was nearly two hours before Louise spotted something in the distance, her augmented eyes detecting the actively camouflaged alien structures nearly eight kilometers in front of her, or rather, they didn't spot the buildings so much as the aliens moving around them. However, once the alien presence was confirmed, Louise could easily pick out the faint shimmers of the cloaked buildings.

"Warlord 1, this is Warlord 8. I've found an alien base. It might even be the base we are looking for." Louise said into her comms.

"Good work. Scout it out with your UAV if you can, otherwise wait until Warlord 2 can get to you and provide anti-scout coverage while you move in to scout on foot." Saito ordered.

"I'm launching the UAV now. Do we have any SODs left?" Louise asked.

"Four. Warlords 6 and 7 have two each." Saito replied.

"Good. I'll mark targets." Louise said, before launching the UAV. The recon drone took the form of a tiny disc, about a foot in diameter, and contained little other than a highly detailed camera, which linked directly to Louise's HUD, a targeting module, allowing it to obtain the necessary targeting information of a set location, and finally a set of runic arrays that allowed the craft to float through the air, completely silently and invisibly, without disturbing anything.

Soon, the UAV was over the enemy base, allowing Louise to determine exactly what the base was made of.

There were a set of large structures in the center of the base, one of which seemed to be a center point for the laser point defense grid, designed to take out conventional missiles, while another seemed to be a beacon of some kind, and was ringed by landing pads, doubtlessly for the alien fighters. Finally, there were four giant cannons arrayed around the edges of the central building cluster, their barrels pointed towards the sky. They were anti-capital ship weapons, ones that could easily scythe even the largest human battleships out of the sky with contemptuous ease. In addition to those big cannons, the base was protected by thirty-odd anti air emplacements, which, while they couldn't scratch a capital ship, were more than enough to shred any incoming airstrike. Finally, artillery batteries, both direct and indirect, along with smaller, anti-infantry emplacements ringed the camp, protected by one-way energy fields that allowed the aliens to fire out, but prevented attackers from shooting in.

That one base could probably withstand an assault by all the armies of the Brimiric kingdoms and wouldn't even suffer a single casualty. Fortunately, the people of the world she was summoned into were better equipped for dealing with these kinds of emplacements.

Then, Saito's voice filled her helmet once more.

"Warlord 8, come in. Have you found anything?" Her master asked.

"There are four anti-capital ship guns protecting the place, as well as numerous smaller AA defenses, which rule out an air strike. A missile bombardment wouldn't be consistent enough, even if we used some SODS to put a few holes in the point defense grid. However, if we used the SODS to take out the anti-ship guns, we could call in the navy to take care of it." Louise replied.

"Agreed. I'll put in a call to the fourth fleet. They should be able to spare a cruiser or two. Are there any capital ships present?"

"None so far."

"Good. Sent targeting data to Warlord 6 and 7, two cannons apiece. I'll call in the fleet once you confirm the guns' destruction."

"Understood." Louise said, cutting off the communication. Soon, the targets were painted and the co-ordinates were sent to their respective recipients, the SODS being fired about two minutes later.

Then, nearly three minutes after painting the target, the first pair of stealth warheads slammed home, followed close behind by the second pair. Once again switching to radar mapping on her UAV, Louise saw the guns collapse, the concentrated plasma warheads doing their work perfectly, one of the missiles even managing to plunge straight into one of the guns' barrels, putting the weapon permanently out of action.

"Warlord 1, the guns are down. The fleet is free to proceed." Louise said, earning an affirmative in reply, before she settled down to watch the show. Several minutes passed as she watched alien damage control teams scramble around, attempting to repair the damage, mechs moving debris out of the way, dousing fires, and blocking radiation leaks from the breached reactors. Then, the human navy arrived. Two cruisers slowly closed with the damaged base, a halo of fighters surrounding them.

With a low thrumming sound that rapidly grew to a high pitched wail, alien fighters began to take off, circling overhead before, at an unseen signal, speeding off in the direction of the distant, yet rapidly approaching warships. Said warships' fighter screens moved to intercept, and Louise watched the neat aerial formations and squadrons speed past each other, guns blazing and releasing their missiles, passing each other less than a second after entering engagement range. Even in that second, explosions lit the sky as fighters from both sides went down in flames.

Streaks of blue energy from the smaller anti-fighter guns on the cruisers scythed through the hostile fighter force, vaporizing any fighters caught in their path. All in all, the aerial melee lasted for barely a minute before the outgunned and outnumbered alien forces were wiped out. The surviving human fighters returned to the cruisers, taking cover inside the larger crafts' shield bubbles, which would protect them from anti-aircraft fire.

The cruisers closed the remaining distance in seconds, and their shields soon glowed with the fire of the hundreds of AA guns on the ground, but without any anti-ship guns to challenge them, the cruisers simply ignored the tiny bolts of plasma, which washed harmlessly over the shields, unable to hit the fighters hiding inside them. Then, when they were about three kilometers away from the base, the cruisers opened fire with their ventral guns, and the alien base was bathed in fire. The blue-white beams of particle cannons carved deep burning furrows in the ground, turning the desert sand to glass, while focus cannons fired off varying bolts of magic, some visible to the naked eye, others only visible via the sensors built into Louise's helmet. The entire base was reduced to glowing slag within seconds of the bombardment beginning. Then, the world broke apart.

Simulation Report WM122143-8

Subject: Trainee Louise Valliere, designation Warlord 8

Squad Score: 85%

Trainee Score: 91%

Squad Performance Comments: Objective completed successfully. Mission completed successfully with no squad casualties. Allied forces casualties within upper end of acceptable range. Objectives completed: Eliminate primary alien base. Eliminate primary artillery batteries or allow allied forces to eliminate primary artillery batteries. Hinder hostile troop movement. Objectives not completed: Eliminate at least 50% of hostile scouts. Eliminate alien forces at staging points. Eliminate at least 50% of enemy light artillery batteries.

Trainee Performance Comments: Adequate stealth capabilities. Trainee holds record for most fixed hostile emplacements targeted for destruction. Capable of utilizing UAV successfully. Capable of short-term deployments in hostile territory.

Trainee Performance Satisfactory

End evaluation.

Louise quickly read through her simulation report before closing it and quickly donning her uniform. This particular simulation had lasted for almost two days, starting early on Sunday, which was reserved entirely for simulations for the upper three years, and it ended late on Monday which was reserved in much the same way. This was actually quite short for this sort of simulation. Some of the oldest students were known to spend weeks or even months at a time in the simulator, which was designed in such a way to prevent muscular atrophy and malnutrition among its users, feeding them intravenously and utilizing runes to forcefully exercise the bodies inside while their minds were disconnected. The reason for the oldest students' extreme stints in the simulators was simple. They would soon be deployed into battle as a form of graduation test, and the survivors would be fully inducted into the corps.

"Officer on deck!" Saito shouted, and Louise, along with the rest of Warlord squad, drew themselves up and saluted. The officer in question, a colonel, judging by his rank insignia, saluted back briefly, before walking up to Louise.

"Trainee Valliere. You are to come with me." The man said, before turning and walking out of the room, Louise following close behind. They walked silently through the grey, steel halls of the training center, eventually coming to a halt in front of a nondescript door. It slid open, and Louise entered, the colonel following close behind. Inside, there was a large table, around which sat several men and women, some clad in the white lab coats of scientists, while others wore more formal, military uniforms. All of them had the same, impassive expressions on their faces.

"Thank you Colonel. You are dismissed." One of the men, who was clad in a particularly simple black suit said, and the colonel turned and left the room, leaving Louise alone.

"Sit." The same man ordered, and Louise sat down in the nearest chair at the end of the table.

"Now, Louise Valliere, is it? I have been informed of your nature as an extradimensional summon, your summoning happening four months ago. Is this correct?" The man asked.

"It is correct, sir." Louise replied.

"Good. Now, I understand that your particular world is rather primitive in terms of technology and magic, being stuck with medieval age equivalent technology for quite some time now, and having a feudal system of government. Is this correct?" The man asked.

"It is, sir."

"Good. From what trainee Hiraga reported to me, magic users make up the ruling nobility, of which you are a part of. Approximately how well connected are you with your country's ruler?"

"I have known Princess Henrietta of Tristain personally when she was a child, sir."

"Thank you. Now, can you perhaps guess why you are here, trainee Valliere?" The man asked.

"You are planning to somehow enter negotiations with Tristain." Louise replied, a pit of nervousness growing in her stomach.

"Correct. You see, Tristain has something that we need, and we are in a position to obtain it, whether we get it through force or through negotiation is all up to them. Specifically, your world has two things in abundance that we lack. First is an orbit without aliens in strike range, the other is land that is not considered a potential battlefield that can erupt at any given moment. Even if we get one of those, we would be able to tip the balance of this war in our favor. If we get the orbit, we will be able to construct actual shipyards and finally start producing our own fleets once again, and if we get the land, we'll be able to construct a spaceport to get to orbit. After all, what can a bunch of knights in shining armor do to stop us from going there. Do you understand, Trainee Valliere?"

"Yes, sir. I assume you are going to want my co-operation in finding a way to return there, sir?"

"No, your co-operation will not be required, just your survival. We have already obtained the necessary readings from your summoning to eventually construct a method of getting to your home universe. However, your survival is key in obtaining what we want peacefully, as we really don't want to give your primitive people modern technology. That would be like giving nuclear weapons to a toddler. Should you die, we will not have any bargaining chips left, and will most likely have to take what we want by force, and pacifying a bunch of medieval peasants and uppity nobles is not something we want to divert our manpower towards. Of course, we might be able to intimidate your countrymen into giving us what we want, but in the end, alliances made of fear never last long, and always end in bloody conflict. Thus, if you want your home kingdom to remain independent and unconquered, you will survive long enough for us to reach it. Understood?"

"Yes, sir. Permission to speak, sir?"

"Granted."

"Thank you, sir. Will you do anything to ensure my survival, sir?"

"While it is well within my power to exempt you from combat duty, you are of the magika corps, and every squad is crucial to maintaining our hold over this world. Thus, I will not do anything overt to ensure your continued existence, although I will not take any steps to terminate you either. After all, while your survival is appreciated, we would most likely be able to subdue your country, if not your entire planet, with a single, semi-mechanized infantry division without suffering a single casualty. After all, peace is a luxury that can seldom be afforded, and in the case of your planet, you are the only one who can pay its price. Do you understand, Trainee Valliere?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Remember this. We will reach your world one way or the other, as it holds the key to our victory over the alien threat. Whether we get what we want through peace or through war is up to you. You are dismissed, trainee. Oh, and please. Call me Director."

"Understood Director." Louise said, attempting to conceal her shock at being personally addressed by one of the twelve most powerful men in the world. She left the room and heard the door close behind her, before she started to walk at a quick pace to her quarters. Entering, she found it empty, and promptly slumped against a wall, feeling the strength suddenly leave her body.

She knew that she would see combat again, and could easily lose her life in any one of those occasions. The thought of her death alone was bad enough, but now her death would mean the unnecessary deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of innocents in her home world. Images of her family and acquaintances lying dead on the ground, slaughtered by uncaring soldiers, flashed in front of her eyes. She blinked back tears as she imagined the Tristain Academy of Magic burning, while the bleeding, cauterized figures of her classmates stood around her, accusing her of murdering them all. Once again, she cursed her fate for being summoned here, away from the relative peace of her home.

The door slid open, but Louise was too engrossed in her misery to care.

"Louise? What happened?" Saito's voice only faintly reached her ears, despite him being right in front of her.

"Louise?" The voice came again, louder this time. Saito had used the comm unit implanted in her ear that time.

"Leave me alone." Louise choked out.

"Louise, if whatever just happened affects you like this, it is my job to find out. After all, it could negatively impact your performance in the field-" Saito began, but Louise cut him off.

"That's all that matters now, isn't it. All that matters now is how I perform in the field. I don't matter, don't I?"

"Louise, you are my familiar, which makes you my responsibility. Now tell me, what happened."

"No. It doesn't affect my performance."

"Yes it does. If you were to come into battle like that, you'll be a liability, and get both yourself and everyone else in the squad killed. Now, tell me what's wrong." Saito said, more firmly than before.

"They found a way to get to my home world." Louise said, trying to stop the flow of tears.

"Then why are you crying? Shouldn't you be happy that you have a chance to return home?"

"No, it's not that. Besides, I'm already a member of the corps. Mother would kill me if I were to turn my back on this." Louise said, laughing slightly.

"Then why are you crying, Louise?" Saito asked, more gently now.

"It's because if I die, they'll invade my world and kill everything that stands in their way until they get what they want!" Louise shouted.

"What? Who told you that?"

"The Director did. He said that, one way or the other, they'll get to Halkegenia, and the only way they're willing to get what they want peacefully is through me! If I die, then they will just invade and take what they want by force! After all, what would a bunch of knights in shining armor and a few uppity nobles do against the founder-damned Earth Army!" Tears began to run down her face again as she finished speaking. Then, a hand found its way to her shoulder.

"Don't worry. After all, you're one of the Magika Corps. It'll take more than a few aliens to kill one of us." Saito reassured her.

"Problem is, there's still a whole lot of aliens out there." Louise said, causing Saito to laugh.

"There's a whole lot of us out there too, you know. If there weren't, well, we wouldn't be talking now, would we?"

"I know, but in the end, making sure my world remains at peace depends on me alone. There may be a whole lot of us, but in the end, if I die, Tristain as I know it dies with me!"

"Then I won't let you die, and if I know my squad, the rest of them won't let you die either. After all, you're our little pink haired explosion specialist! What would we do without you?" Saito said.

"Are you just saying that to keep me in fighting shape?" Louise asked.

"Of course not! You're my familiar, is it not normal for me to show concern about you?"

"Prove it then. Promise me that you will protect me, and if I die, you'll do everything you can to prevent my world from being destroyed." Saito didn't say anything at first, and Louise thought for a moment that her summoner was going to refuse. Then, Saito reached his arms around her and pulled her up from the wall against which she still stood. He held her in the embrace for a few seconds, before letting go and looking her directly in the eyes.

"I promise." He said simply, holding her gaze for a few more seconds before turning away. "Now, lights go out soon, and you look like you need some rest. Try to get some sleep right now, okay?" Saito asked, and Louise nodded. Then, Saito climbed to the upper bunk and Louise took the lower. Then, with a quick command of 'Lights out', Saito plunged the room into darkness.

A/N: I hope that last scene turned out as good as I wanted it to be. Other than that, I would, once again, like to apologize for the long wait in between updates. I try to find time to work on one of my stories, but life in general tends to take as much of my time away as possible. Other than that, I can think of nothing that needs saying other than that i hope you are enjoying the story so far. Next chapter will be out whenever I finish it.