On the Credulity of Enforcers: I've revised the lying bit again. Made it so I don't even expect him to fall for the line I'm giving him, but he has an adverse reaction to it.
Like I said in another author's note (and not in the fic, in fine Nanoha tradition), my headcanon for the fic has Lancia having spent ten years basically as a cop before moving to Enforcer. He's had to deal with WAY TOO MANY cases of CUII, and too much paperwork. Enforcer duty lets him do more fighting and less legal work, which is why he transferred/applied for it. I got lucky beyond compare with that- any real, veteran Enforcer would've seen right past it.
Heck, if it were Chrono, I would've had to give him the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, including showing him
Worry not. I have mountains already prepared for the dropping. This just isn't one of them.
On the Issue of Teleportation: What he said is that he doesn't "have the range or the power to get both of us back to Karnarog", that being Administrated World #6, if memory serves. Karnarog is, in this fic, home to the central TSAB base in this region of dimensional space, and plays host to both the Enforcer, and the dimensional cruiser Preta. It's not that close to the world I landed on, but it's where he'd RTB to.
I envision teleportation capacity and teleportation range as being linked together, along with the magical power needed to cast the spell. Go further, and you take more power. Carry more? More power is needed. If you hit your maximum power level, you have to trade distance for capacity, or vice versa.
CD has the right of it. Earth is close enough to where I am at the moment (heh) for a mage of decently high power (above average, but well below Nanoha) to send me and the car there. Karnarog is several times the distance. Piros would burn himself out trying to take himself, me, and my car (regulations, don't'cha know) back that way. He might be capable of making several smaller hops, depending on how many places are between here and there, how they're arranged, and which ones can sustain human life, but why bother when he has a cruiser in close dimensional space? It's faster, won't wear him out pointlessly, and has a few other advantages.
Oh, and Jorlem? I wrote this bit several days ago. Well before that Steam chat.
**********
As I walked onto the bridge of the Preta, I was struck by how familiar the place was. It was a lot like the bridge of the Asura, really- a U-shaped lower level with three duty stations at the far end, a raised command level in the 'inside' of the U with one seat for the captain, and a truly ridiculous quantity of wasted space. Seriously- you could lower the ceiling of the bridge by a full deck, and still fit the functional part of the bridge into that room four times over.
We'd appeared on the command level, at the other end of an unnecessarily-long walkway from the captain of the vessel. At the moment, the captain was facing away from us, so I really couldn't see much... well, aside from the Enforcer demolishing what looked like a typical Mid-style mage done in burnished brass. Huh. Robots. That explains the teamwork, the predictability, and the relative wimpiness.
Finally, video-Lancia stabsploded the last artificial mage. The video closed itself with a cheery electronic beep, after which the captain's chair spun around to face us.
Welp. Whatever I was expecting, this wasn't it.
The captain of the Preta looked the two of us over with a gimlet eye. Every sense I had was telling me to straighten up, behave, and keep serious around her... mostly because she gave off the same sort of 'sharp old battleaxe' vibe that Dame Judi Dench's M had, in spades. There was no real resemblance, thankfully, but anybody who can hold an active command position while looking at least 60 years old has to be something special.
Then I remembered that the Nanohaverse had significantly better medical tech than I was used to, and revised my estimate of her age up fifteen years. Almost broke out in a cold sweat at that thought. Do nothing objectionable, say nothing objectionable... as long as I behave, I can get through this intact.
"Well, well, well... our Enforcer returns... and with a tourist, no less!" I swear, she could cut steel with that voice. "Report!"
Piros came to attention, saluting as he went ramrod-straight, and began to go over his deployment to the planet. Boring military-speak... they call those things 'M-Drones'? Fitting. Combat... more combat... there were NINE OF THEM?!... man, that was a long fight... ordering me to run? Good to see I figured that one out. Ooh, he's getting reamed for taking so long to figure their pattern out... he didn't mention my original explanation... and finally done!
With that done- wonder why they had no problem discussing a TSAB military operation in front of a civilian?- the captain turned to me. "While Enforcer Lancia's report is commendably complete, there are still a number of... issues.. that need to be addressed. To begin with, I don't recall you ever giving him your name." As she said that, I felt her attention focus entirely on me.
Notimetothinkcan'tusemyrealnamegottacomeupwithsomething! I blinked, a puzzled look on my face, inwardly trying my hardest to come up with a suitable alias. Almost without realizing it, I blurted out "Ford, ma'am. Ford Prefect." Wonder of wonders, I even managed to say it in a steady voice.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
Like I said in another author's note (and not in the fic, in fine Nanoha tradition), my headcanon for the fic has Lancia having spent ten years basically as a cop before moving to Enforcer. He's had to deal with WAY TOO MANY cases of CUII, and too much paperwork. Enforcer duty lets him do more fighting and less legal work, which is why he transferred/applied for it. I got lucky beyond compare with that- any real, veteran Enforcer would've seen right past it.
Heck, if it were Chrono, I would've had to give him the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, including showing him
Worry not. I have mountains already prepared for the dropping. This just isn't one of them.
On the Issue of Teleportation: What he said is that he doesn't "have the range or the power to get both of us back to Karnarog", that being Administrated World #6, if memory serves. Karnarog is, in this fic, home to the central TSAB base in this region of dimensional space, and plays host to both the Enforcer, and the dimensional cruiser Preta. It's not that close to the world I landed on, but it's where he'd RTB to.
I envision teleportation capacity and teleportation range as being linked together, along with the magical power needed to cast the spell. Go further, and you take more power. Carry more? More power is needed. If you hit your maximum power level, you have to trade distance for capacity, or vice versa.
CD has the right of it. Earth is close enough to where I am at the moment (heh) for a mage of decently high power (above average, but well below Nanoha) to send me and the car there. Karnarog is several times the distance. Piros would burn himself out trying to take himself, me, and my car (regulations, don't'cha know) back that way. He might be capable of making several smaller hops, depending on how many places are between here and there, how they're arranged, and which ones can sustain human life, but why bother when he has a cruiser in close dimensional space? It's faster, won't wear him out pointlessly, and has a few other advantages.
Oh, and Jorlem? I wrote this bit several days ago. Well before that Steam chat.
**********
As I walked onto the bridge of the Preta, I was struck by how familiar the place was. It was a lot like the bridge of the Asura, really- a U-shaped lower level with three duty stations at the far end, a raised command level in the 'inside' of the U with one seat for the captain, and a truly ridiculous quantity of wasted space. Seriously- you could lower the ceiling of the bridge by a full deck, and still fit the functional part of the bridge into that room four times over.
We'd appeared on the command level, at the other end of an unnecessarily-long walkway from the captain of the vessel. At the moment, the captain was facing away from us, so I really couldn't see much... well, aside from the Enforcer demolishing what looked like a typical Mid-style mage done in burnished brass. Huh. Robots. That explains the teamwork, the predictability, and the relative wimpiness.
Finally, video-Lancia stabsploded the last artificial mage. The video closed itself with a cheery electronic beep, after which the captain's chair spun around to face us.
Welp. Whatever I was expecting, this wasn't it.
The captain of the Preta looked the two of us over with a gimlet eye. Every sense I had was telling me to straighten up, behave, and keep serious around her... mostly because she gave off the same sort of 'sharp old battleaxe' vibe that Dame Judi Dench's M had, in spades. There was no real resemblance, thankfully, but anybody who can hold an active command position while looking at least 60 years old has to be something special.
Then I remembered that the Nanohaverse had significantly better medical tech than I was used to, and revised my estimate of her age up fifteen years. Almost broke out in a cold sweat at that thought. Do nothing objectionable, say nothing objectionable... as long as I behave, I can get through this intact.
"Well, well, well... our Enforcer returns... and with a tourist, no less!" I swear, she could cut steel with that voice. "Report!"
Piros came to attention, saluting as he went ramrod-straight, and began to go over his deployment to the planet. Boring military-speak... they call those things 'M-Drones'? Fitting. Combat... more combat... there were NINE OF THEM?!... man, that was a long fight... ordering me to run? Good to see I figured that one out. Ooh, he's getting reamed for taking so long to figure their pattern out... he didn't mention my original explanation... and finally done!
With that done- wonder why they had no problem discussing a TSAB military operation in front of a civilian?- the captain turned to me. "While Enforcer Lancia's report is commendably complete, there are still a number of... issues.. that need to be addressed. To begin with, I don't recall you ever giving him your name." As she said that, I felt her attention focus entirely on me.
Notimetothinkcan'tusemyrealnamegottacomeupwithsomething! I blinked, a puzzled look on my face, inwardly trying my hardest to come up with a suitable alias. Almost without realizing it, I blurted out "Ford, ma'am. Ford Prefect." Wonder of wonders, I even managed to say it in a steady voice.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.