UPDATED 1/18/2017

Here's Book 1 (Book 0, the Prologue, is in the Nanoha section) of my multi-fic tale regarding a thoroughly-disillusioned Teana Lanstar wandering the multiverse in search of strength and a purpose.

Mahō Shōjo Lyrical Nanoha is the property of 7-Arcs. Halo used to be the property of Bungie, and is now the property of the Bungie spinoff company 343 Studios

-BOOK 1 START-

Teana sighed as she stood up from the captain's chair, which was currently redundant as the ship was on autopilot, and in slipstream space there were no enemies to worry about, and thus no need for a captain barking combat orders at subordinates (which Teana didn't have, either… yet). She stalked down the empty halls, heading for her quarters about 10 minutes from the bridge, and as she walked she reflected on her newfound freedom, no longer a pawn of the TSAB Spec-Ops' intricate plots to humiliate and demean her. She was free.

So why did things still feel sorta wrong?

Feeling strangely exhausted, Teana stripped nude and crawled into her bed, deciding that she… just needed… to rest her… eyes for a few… zzzzzz….

As Teana slept, the ship's semi-sapient AI got to work. Recognizing its sole occupant and current owner as a member of the species chosen as Reclaimers, and obeying programming placed by the Librarian, it scanned ahead to gauge the situation in its home dimension that the ship was currently en route to. Finding and deciphering records regarding a group of specially trained and altered Reclaimers, it picked out some of the internal enhancements possessed by these individuals, drew up data on a few of the enhancements held by shock troopers of the long-deceased military of its creators' empire, and linked up with the AI currently in the Reclaimer's possession, requesting and receiving data on Midchildan-style magic, and recognizing it as a descendant of its makers' mages' magic style.

Picking out the enhancements deemed to be of necessity to its new owner, the Starshot's AI teleported the sleeping girl to the med-bay. There, it anesthetized her, activated sterilization fields for surgical purposes, and went to work. All enhancements integrated successfully, the extraordinarily advanced medical tech that the Makers left behind ensured no scars or other marks of the procedure, and Teana was un-anesthetized and teleported, still asleep, back into her bed. A pair of Constructor drones flew up, grabbed hold of the bedsheet & blanket, and tucked her in before returning to their dormant storage.

Teana groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. She turned her head and saw the digital clock on the wall: 8:25 AM. It had been 9:45 PM when she'd gone to sleep. After a few seconds of slight twitches and movements, she noticed that something felt… different. She sat up, the blanket and sheet pooling at her waist, and noticed the difference in the way her body responded to her mental command. As she pondered, she realized that her thoughts felt different as well, as if her brain had been re-wired by an electrician of greater skill than the one who first put the wires in. She raised her right hand to her face, and moved her arm around a little, surprised at how much quicker and smoother the motions seemed to be. She also felt the difference in her muscles, which felt stronger and more toned.

She pushed the sheets down and got to her feet, immediately feeling slightly awkward, as if her body wasn't quite working the way it used to be. She picked up her Device, currently in card form.

"Mirage", she asked, "what's happened to me?"

"The semi-sapient AI of this ship," Cross Mirage replied, "saw fit to bestow certain internal enhancements to your body, due to the nature of certain potential foes in the realm we are currently headed to."

"Wait," she stated, "are you saying I'm… what, a cyborg?"

"Technically, yes," Mirage replied, "but your enhancements are decades, if not centuries, more advanced than those of Mach Caliber's owner. They are also fundamentally different in structure. Rather than replacing parts of your body entirely, as was done to her, your internal systems have been… added on to."

"What exactly are these add-ons? And what do they do?"

Cross Mirage accessed the records, and replied "I shall break them down step by step.

"First, a process called 'carbide-ceramic ossification'. This is a grafting of a complex material to your skeletal structure. Your bones, master, are now essentially unbreakable.

"Second is a complex nanotechnological enhancement to your muscles. They have been altered to increase density, decrease lactase recovery time, and overall increase strength. Also, whenever I am with you, I can channel magical energy through your muscles to further boost their performance, to superhuman levels on par with those of a group of super-soldiers found in the realm we are heading for."

Teana felt uneasy at the prospect of relying on magic for anything, but the prospect of super strength proved too good to pass up, so she let it slide.

"Next is a process identified as 'superconducting fibrification of neural dendrites'. The bioelectrical nerve transduction of your central nervous system has been replaced by shielded electronic transduction. Scans show your reflexes have acquired a 300% boost beyond human norm. Of course, before you sealed your core, magic granted you a 50% boost, but that still pales in comparison to your current state. Also, the procedure seems to have refined your speed, ease, & clearness of thought, and should theoretically provide a boost in raw intelligence."

This one threw her a bit. She tested it out, noticing that her body did indeed respond to her commands at a speed around six times that of what it did back before The Incident. This also explained why her mind felt sharper and quicker. "Continue" she said.

"Most interesting", Cross Mirage stated, "is a considerable amount of nanotech enhancement to your internal organs, master. Your digestive system is considerably more efficient, able to draw more nutrients from consumed food, and also capable of digesting tougher materials, though by no means capable of digesting things that a human body can't digest at all in the first place – you cannot, say, live off of rocks, and you still require a balanced diet for maximum function.

"Your immune system has received a nigh-extreme boost in efficiency. Your body's ability to fight off pathogens has improved greatly, and nanobots in your body hold data on a staggering amount of harmful viruses and bacteria, and are programmed to identify, categorize, and eliminate any pathogens not yet in their collective databanks.

"Your cardiovascular and respiratory systems have also undergone quite the change, master. Your heart and lungs have been heavily altered – in fact, 18% replaced by nanotech – to dramatically boost efficiency, and have been given limited self-repair capabilities. Your blood vessels have been reinforced, and in some placed replaced, by dedicated nanotechnological additions. Your blood's ability to carry oxygen and dispose of carbon dioxide have been boosted as well, and the nanobots that patrol your bloodstream against pathogens are also programmed to assist in the repair of damaged or torn blood vessels, and the quickening of healing.

"Considering the nature of these changes, the Starshot's Virtual Intelligence and I have agreed to deliberately prolong our trip through slipstream space by three days, to give you time to adjust to your new body, master."

Teana was thoroughly stunned. This sort of cyborg tech was beyond the TSAB's dreams. After several seconds, she walked over to stand in front of the full-length mirror on the wall, checking out her naked form; she was naturally 'gifted' (genetics and puberty had been "kind to her", someone had once put it), her sizable assets moving slightly as she turned. She briefly considered 'playing' with them for a bit, but decided against it. Though Teana did not receive the libido-quashing thyroid implant common to Spartans, all the things on the teen's mind meant that she was currently in no mood for self-gratification. …Not that she'd ever done that, really.

…Okay, once.

…Okay, a handful of times. Most of them being accompanied by a fantasy involving Subaru. And a few of them involving either Vice or Erio (the only two males she ever routinely interacted with beyond 'acquaintance' basis; Vice was nice to her and pretty attractive, while Erio was kind, super-cute, and had some nice lean muscles for his young age), or both, as well as more than one with either Ginga or Fate doing various 'things' to her.

It was then that she noticed something else as well. She'd shaved down below three days ago, but now it looked even shorter. She reached down, ran a diagnosis with Mirage, and noticed there was no longer any hair down there at all. In fact, there was no longer any hair anywhere on her torso. Her stomach and lower back, formerly possessing a short, soft, near-invisible fuzz, were completely smooth. She still had the slight hair on her lower arms, but her armpits and her legs & feet were also now hairless.

…Meh, she thought. She didn't really care one way or the other (well, no longer having to shave her legs or privates was a definite plus).

'Now then,' she thought to herself, 'I guess this is where I start adjusting.'

The next three days were spent discovering her body's new capabilities, and seemed to pass quickly. Eventually, the Starshot neared its trans-dimensional destination. Space-time rippled and distorted, and a blue-white portal opened up and spat out the 1600-meter vessel. An orange K-type star shone its light on the star system, and the bridge display showed a blue-green planet.

It was 15,273 kilometers in diameter, compared to the 12,742 kilometers of Earth or the 11,947 kilometers of Midchilda. Scans showed it to be a young world, 1.1 billion years of age compared to Midchilda's 3.7 billion and Earth's 4.5 billion. Closer scans revealed a fleet of armed starships around the body, with massive orbital cannons stationed at various geosynchronous orbital points. A few of these ships – grey & black, blocky in structure – cautiously began to approach the Starshot, which was broadcasting this new faction's come-in-peace white-flag code. Teana read the name of the star system and planet as they appeared on screen.

Epsilon Eridani. Reach.

-CHAPTER END-

That's it for the opening. Next chapter, the UNSC gets its first friendly First Contact. No flames please.