Mahou Kunoichi Lyrical Nanoha

[katreus]

Or --
Hybrid ftw! *G* Copy Raging Heart and Bardiche's solution to the problem. Of course, there's a fairly large possibility that your ID goes bzzztt kaput at the end...
Aww... Fate. T_T Ah well.
Yeah, I look forward to the bootcamp (or the attempt at bootcamp). ^_^

[Valles]

---

Hybrid ftw! *G* Copy Raging Heart and Bardiche's solution to the problem. Of course, there's a fairly large possibility that your ID goes bzzztt kaput at the end...

---

*nodnod*
Yeah, there's that. Those two get away with it because their masters' bodies handle enough magical power in their own right that they can act like surge protectors or overflow tanks - drawing off the peaks so that they never exceed the Device's maximum. For most people, it's not an option, though.
Don't worry about Fate - I have no intention of leaving her out indefinitely, I just want to settle things down a little, first.
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[katreus]

Even cops (which seem to be the closest equivalent to what Enforcers are) have their SWAT teams though. I'm wondering why the Enforcers don't have a special squad specializing in battle magic (i.e. Velka type).

---

The Australians, OTOH, may well plotz.

---

Hrm... I'm seeing China being the more Evil Plotter. They, to put it midly, dislike the Japanese and given that Japan is heavily tied to America (and no matter what the politicians say, we *are* competing for influence in East Asia), this could be seen as giving Japan an unbalacing effect on the region to the detriment of China. Think China fears of a Taiwan armed with Nanoha (which is unrealistic but then paranoia's sometimes unrealistic).

[CattyNebulart]

---

Even cops (which seem to be the closest equivalent to what Enforcers are) have their SWAT teams though. I'm wondering why the Enforcers don't have a special squad specializing in battle magic (i.e. Velka type).

---

I though Chrono (and his peers) are their vesion of a swat team (much like some swat teams have tanks... presumably most 'swat teams' are not on Chrono's level)
Thank you Nathan. Since beggin for more seems to be working... more please
I'd say no to the scarring because of magical healing and Fate doesn't appear to have scars (besides the mental ones) from her time with her mother.
As for earth goverments knowledge of TSAB I'd say the TSAB doesn't really care if they know, but they preffer ignorance. Makes it easier to police everything if there are only a few hundered people that can bounce between dimensions rather than a few million (ep7, they seem to be using a 33 digit hex number identifier or an 8 dimensional coordinate system with most numbers in the 4 digits. Either way even assuming that most coordinates are duds that's still a lot of worlds)
Also it hard to predict what an anouncement like that would do to our world (they are aliens, have massive space-war-ships, and magic, any one of these could set of a major reaction in people all three... jikes. We'd probably set up new age cargo cults)
Anyway take from these notes what you want (most of them where made for my own anyway), I really enjoy your view on MGLN.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[Valles]

---

As for earth goverments knowledge of TSAB I'd say the TSAB doesn't really care if they know, but they preffer ignorance. Makes it easier to police everything if there are only a few hundered people that can bounce between dimensions rather than a few million (ep7, they seem to be using a 33 digit hex number identifier or an 8 dimensional coordinate system with most numbers in the 4 digits. Either way even assuming that most coordinates are duds that's still a lot of worlds)

---

A few hundred travelers? Er, take a second look at the scale of TSAB Headquarters - if that thing has less than a million permanent residents, I'll eat my briefs.
My working model at this point is trying to reconcile a lot of different things, so bear with me. The first WAG I'm taking is that the TSAB's 'dimensions' are not, in fact, seperate pocket universes, but the coordinates in 'real' spacetime - the one Terran astronomers have been staring at for centuries - that one arrives at after feeding certain energy characteristics into an indefinitely small universally adjacent 'other space'... IOW, if a Terran researcher independantly replicated the principles behind their interdimensional planar travel, he'd call it 'hyperspace'.
That Midchildia is the oldest/wealthiest/most active of a number of civilizations with access to 'interdimensional' travel, and that all of these such are known to and actively trading with each other, much as, say, nations did on Earth in the nineteenth century.
Relative to those spaces these people would define as 'civilized', Earth is way off at the ass end of the beyond.
Magical energy, as used for industrial and technological purposes, may be compared to water - some places have a lot of it, others much less, but everybody needs it, at least if they want to build a civilization with anything in common with the TSAB's.
Continuing the metaphor, Earth's oceans were all flash-boiled away, down to dry bedrock, at some point in the distant past. We're talking Arakkis level dry, here, 'kay? An experienced mage can do personal-level effects in that kind of environment, but will never develop without outside interference some time before they hit puberty.
The Gray Men's world is not called Disith. It is, however, in much the same sort of fix. No, it wasn't their fault.
The dimensional traveler characters are just as human as they look.
Nobody from Earth has any clue that the Asura is out there... at this point, anyway.
The Saucer Loonies would indeed latch onto this and never let go.
So, recap: Earth public knows that a bunch of men with wierd powers showed up in a Japanese city and killed everyone they could get their hands on, before being driven off by a cute Japanese girl who could fly and throw pink energy bolts. Earth leadership knows that the TSAB is an Interpol-like organization dedicated to dealing with interdimensional problems and limiting dangers brought about by Lost Logia technology, but has no clue as to the organization's real resources.
Aside from the Mage Brigade and Admirals Graham and Halloran, none of the TSAB's people really realize that Earth's population is larger than the next three worlds they have contact with combined, and none of them have any kind of clue how bad a hornet's nest our politics are about to turn into.
(rationale: knowledge of magic can allow a person to establish what we would consider a 'first world' lifestyle for themselves. Magic books, therefore, will sell like hotcakes. Once the printing press shows up, local standard of living should, therefore, skyrocket, no matter how hard the powers that be at the time try and clamp down on the knowledge.
It is an observed fact that a nation with a high standard of living also has a low birthrate. Therefore, their growth will either slow or almost stop right after, with none of the explosive growth we saw from the spread of modern medicine on Earth.)
ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[katreus]

---

My working model at this point is trying to reconcile a lot of different things, so bear with me. The first WAG I'm taking is that the TSAB's 'dimensions' are not, in fact, seperate pocket universes, but the coordinates in 'real' spacetime - the one Terran astronomers have been staring at for centuries - that one arrives at after feeding certain energy characteristics into an indefinitely small universally adjacent 'other space'... IOW, if a Terran researcher independantly replicated the principles behind their interdimensional planar travel, he'd call it 'hyperspace'.

---

This makes a lotta sense to me. I was wondering why they'd not bother exploring their own universe when they have spaceships.
Not to mention, if they're hopping dimensions, they never seem to run into alternate realities of their own civilization/planet.

[Valles]

Every reporter in the room erupted to their feet when the Dietman stepped aside to introduce 'Admiral Halloran', shouting questions at the top of their lungs. She winced at the noise - not much, just barely enough to be noticable to instincts trained for politics' most cutthroat arenas, but there are the same - then gestured soothingly for silence. "Please, gentlemen! I will be happy to answer your questions, but there are a few remarks I need to make first."
It took a moment, but when they had settled, she smiled and continued. "Thank you. Much of what I have to say will be introducing needed background, so I must ask that you bear with me.
"The structure of the universe consists of a finite number of coexistant planes, each consisting of an infinite number of adjacent points. These planes do not interact with each other naturally, and so are able to occupy the same inherent space, and impose subtly different physical laws on things interacting with them - in short, there is an entirely factual basis behind what your scientists and science fiction writers have dubbed 'hyperspace'.
"However, natural laws also vary within planes, depending on location, which is why most civilizations envisage the question as one of traveling between 'dimensions' - different areas posessing particular, identifiable laws which are seperated from each other yet still occupy the same plane.
"One of the characteristics which varies is the amount of energy required to induce a planar interaction. This threshold is never high - in fact, even at its highest recorded point, it is low enough to be attainable by the electro-chemical discharges of a living brain. All animal life, then, regardless of other characteristics or indeed its awareness of the fact, interacts with more than one plane at all times.
"Some species take this a step farther, and use their interaction with other planes as an additional sense, or other survival tool, even to the extend of creating multi-planar energetic effects which, viewed on only one plane, may seem to violate the laws of thermodynamics - among others. Others may learn to do so - including humans like you and I."
"You're saying that magic is real," said an anonymous voice from the crowd.
"I am saying," the lady Admiral said in an even tone which implicitly but strongly discouraged further interruptions, "that there is a natural phenomenon whose practical applications may and have been conveniently referred to by that title, yes. Those sciences never evolved on Earth because your local interaction threshold is sufficiently high to be outside the reach of all but a small fraction of untrained individuals - literally less than a thousandth of a percent. More, spontaneously developing the ability to perceive such things is even rarer, making a combination of both traits a statistical impossibility.
"A civilization of comparable development to your own with access to such knowledge, however, will find a number of things possible - include the transfer of a given object's references entirely out of its natural plane or planes, and various physical laws bearing thereon.
"Including the speed of light." She took a deep breath, then changed the subject. "At one point in the distant past, there existed a civilization which had achieved what our archeologists believe was a near total understanding of all physical laws - which had brought literally anything possible within their reach. They settled colonies of people across thousands of worlds... before they were destroyed. Whether this was due to complications from some natural disaster, to war, or simply to accident is unknown - but their civilization, along with the physical world which it inhabited, was destroyed utterly.
"Their colonies were cast on their own, and eventually lost all but the most basic rudiments of the knowledge their ancestors had had - if that. In time, however, they built new civilizations to replace what they had lost. As these grew, they began to contact one another, to trade, to interact.
"After an unsettled period, these nations convened to establish an impartial, international third party organization which could regulate trade and interaction and safely deal with any of the immensely dangerous ancient artifacts which were - and are - still occaisionally encountered. Its name would translate to your language as 'Time and Space Administration Bureau.'

---

Boy, this is just a big honkin' wadge of exposition, isn't it? Weber would be proud.
Anyway, depending on y'all's input, I may or may not keep all of it - if I don't, I'd like to know where I should cut to when I splice it into Fate and Hayate's scene. (Yes, I changed my mind. I thought of a way to handle it.) I'd also like to know what questions you think folks should be asking, once she gets done with the background and explaining what she knows about the Gray Man Incident.
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[ECSNorway]

Nah, it's only about half as long as a proper Weberian exposichunk. (But, then, the TSAB's ships also tend to operate on a less-than-Weberian scale, so I'll forgive you.)
The planar interaction bit neatly explains the phase barriers, but the explanation is a bit confusing on the subject of just where these other civilizations exist. Or could be, to the layman...--
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[ordnance11]

---

"You're saying that magic is real," said an anonymous voice from the crowd.
"I am saying," the lady Admiral said in an even tone which implicitly but strongly discouraged further interruptions, "that there is a natural phenomenon whose practical applications may and have been conveniently referred to by that title, yes. Those sciences never evolved on Earth because your local interaction threshold is sufficiently high to be outside the reach of all but a small fraction of untrained individuals - literally less than a thousandth of a percent. More, spontaneously developing the ability to perceive such things is even rarer, making a combination of both traits a statistical impossibility.

---

If she had said "One man's science is another man's magic" ,I would had snarked.
A good example would had been dropping a modern jet liner during the late Iron Age in China or Israel.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[katreus]

How did the Japanese girl get involved with the TSAB if there's such a high threshold here?
Who are those Gray Men and why are they slaughtering people?
What's Earth's relationship with TSAB?
Which country (countries) does TSAB have relations with or which country (countries) will TSAB become involved with?
Will TSAB intervene on Earth?
What technology are you going to give to us?
What is TSAB going to do to stop the Gray Men?
Why do the Gray Men speak Spanish?
What will TSAB do now?
Can we get an exclusive with... Nanoha, I believe she's called?
Is she typical of TSAB agents?
Is she the only TSAB agent on Earth?

[Valles]

"After an unsettled period, these nations convened to establish an impartial, international third party organization which could regulate trade and interaction and safely deal with any of the immensely dangerous ancient artifacts which were - and are - still occaisionally encountered. Its name would translate to your language as 'Time and Space Administration Bureau,' and it is the institution which I represent.
"Bureau activity is organized into various patrol sectors, starting with the Headquarters Branch in Sector One, to which ships, personel, and other assets are then assigned. As a matter of policy, worlds lacking native interdimensional - interstellar," she corrected herself, "travel are not integrated into the trade network the Bureau is responsible for supervising until assets sufficient to protect the increased traffic that would result can be moved into place.
"Since Earth is both extremely distant from the Bureau's usual centers of power and populous enough to be... difficult... to protect, a policy of official non-contact was established as our policy for the forseeable future.
"At the same time, Earth's central location in this sector and an usually high rate of Lost Logia - sorry, ancient artifact - incidents made it the logical choice for a regional base. The conflicting neccessities of policy made a clandestine base the best solution, and unrelated factors suggested Japan as the optimal site, so the decision was made to open negotiations towards that goal.
"After several months of work with the highest levels of the governments of Japan and her allies, an agreement was reached - and strictly classified - allowing Bureau personel to work in the territory of the signatory nations unmolested, in return for our agreement to provide whatever resources proved neccessary to defend the Earth against external threats." She paused after that line, and took a deep breath before continuing. "The party or parties responsible for this morning's attacks in Uminari and other cities across the world were quite definitely non-Terran, but their identity and origin cannot be identified out of information available in this sector. A message has been sent to Headquarters requesting more information, as well as advising them of the neccessity of additional resources to meet our responsibilities, but no response will be forthcoming before tomorrow at the earliest.
"In the meantime, our analyses of the intruders' actions and abilities lead us to conclude that their attacks were not directed at causing either panic or loss of life, but rather as preparation for some more decisive move. Until more information becomes available, all that we can really tell the people of Earth is to remain calm, go about your normal lives, and help your own governments carry out those preparations they find needful."
She smiled, and braced herself. "Questions?"

---

I am very annoyed at Doremi. How the fuck am I supposed to see your fansubs if your trackers won't let me download the motherfucking torrent?!
...*sigh*
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[ECSNorway]

---

but their identity and origin cannot be identified

---

Awkward.
Suggest: "their identity and origin cannot be determined".
Given that they're talking to Japanese reporters, and the initial incidents occurred in Japan, the description of negotiations as taking place with "Japan and her allies" makes sense, even if certain unnamed parties in cities like Washington, New York, and Moscow may be a bit miffed.
(I can just imagine poor Senator Kinsey's heart attack.)--
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Valles]

---

Why do the Gray Men speak Spanish?

---

I'll say this straight out, since there's no graceful way to mention it 'in character' - they don't. More to the point, neither do their Devices.
Nor, as a matter of fact, do Bardiche and Raging Heart speak English, or Levantine, Graf Eisen, and Klarer Wind German. For the sake of my own convenience, I'm ruling that in this AU, what we're hearing as English and German is actually being translated from Midchildian and Velkan, respectively. Now, it does happen that those languages use the same phonemes with roughly the same frequency as the ones that are subbing in for them, but otherwise...

---

Suggest: "their identity and origin cannot be determined".

---

Er, yeah. Oops... ^_^;;;
Ja, -n
((I can just imagine poor Senator Kinsey's heart attack.)
My heart weeps.)
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Valles]

One of the really cool things about Lyrical Nanoha is how it takes all the standard memes of the whole magical girl schtick, takes them apart, then reassembles them so that they make sense, stet?
A second ago something that I'd been thinking about in the back of my head ever since I started thinking about this Kunoichi project as more than just a cool image or two finally hit me - the relevant Mahou Shoujo meme here is the Demonic Invasion, cf. Sakura Taisen, Sailor Moon, and etc.
What needs taken apart? What needs reassembled? Obviously, I've already dedicated myself to removing the 'attack one at a time' and 'minimal/no real casualties' rules (not to mention the PG13 rating...), and I've got one or two more in mind, long-term, but everybody has blind spots.
I'd appreciate it if y'all'd help me check mine. ^_^
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Foxboy]

Well, Nanoha, if I recall her character correctly, is already breaking the trope of "the bad guys always have to act first because the magical girl is too stupid/ditzy to track them down."
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[katreus]

1) Youma show up conveniently where the heroines are.
In a real attack, as the attacker, I'd want to y'know, hit fast, hit hard *away* from the Magical Bigs that could smack me around then disappear. No need for huge energy gatherings -- a small to decent size here, another small to decent size there...
2) Youma show up one at a time.
You've already broken that stereotype with the soldier aspect.
3) There is only *one* Youma attack at any given time.
Doesn't make sense to me. Sacrifice a few causing rampage in a metropolitan area and hit elsewhere.
4) Everything happens in Japan.
Hit elsewhere... as in Europe or America. Or China.
5) Youma show up consistently and steadily increasing but managable power levels.
Till the Magical Bigs build up to challenge Evil Magical Big. Yeah. Or not -- have it be erratic. One week they get hit with a couple hundred attacks then the next two months it's nothing before an incredible power jump (supposedly spending the last two months building up). And vary the times -- early morning, late at night, lunch time... Predictable is Not Good and keeping the TSAB on high alert/stressed at all times will lead to mistakes during battles.

[Guest]

6) There is no-one else...
Why doesn't the police/military/whatever ever interfere? Granted you have them allying with TSAB, so they would presumably help...
7) The counter attack is the very last thing that ends the season.
As soon as they find the enemy lair and the first time the magical girls go on the offensive they destroy all of the enemy hordes. Now with a TSAB fleet helping out this might make sense but then again maybe they have orbital defenses or something.

[Valles]

One, three, and four are actually already taken care of - while Nanoha was fighting her battle, the others were knee-deep in their own... which was why it took so long for Vita to show up as backup - she and Shamal had to finish their group first, then set up a 'teleport' spell to get them to where she was, which, in turn, wasn't Uminari, and was the only target in Japan.
Five - Oooh. Wicked Tribe likes.
Six - Well, of course not. ^_^ Can you honestly see any real government leaving its security in the hands of a completely unknown party like the TSAB? There are going to be a lot of folks running around in sky-blue hats by the end of the week. (Yes, I figure they'll coordinate through the UN. This is an obviously global even, and whatever its flaws, it's still better suited to the role than any other organization in place.)
Seven - Hmmm...
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[gamlain]

The leader of the enemy forces is enemy royalty and all of their people are fanatically loyal to them. See also: Queen Beryl, etc.
It would be nice to see a demonic invasion which is -not- sanctioned by the homeworld government. Or at least not all of it. Perhaps it's one particular nation attempting to invade other dimensions A'La secreet cold-war project to get more magical energy to take home to fight their other front or perhaps it's a rogue black op by their government...maybe it is sanctioned by the president. But not their equivalent of congress.

[katreus]

Ohhh... Nice.
And that even takes care of the whole cavalry always shows up late!
As for the above, mmm... that might take care of the "counterattack ends the season." No point in angering that entire world, esp. since the one country is causing lots of trouble already. Very cool.

[Valles]

---

It would be nice to see a demonic invasion which is -not- sanctioned by the homeworld government. Or at least not all of it. Perhaps it's one particular nation attempting to invade other dimensions A'La secreet cold-war project to get more magical energy to take home to fight their other front or perhaps it's a rogue black op by their government...maybe it is sanctioned by the president. But not their equivalent of congress.

---

*lightbulb*
Ooooh. Thank you! You just catalyzed the whole picture!
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Valles]

Fate Testarossa buried her face in her arms and resisted the urge to whimper. Between more serious injuries and the need to keep a reserve of power in case of a second attack, the bruises she'd picked up in that fight in... was it Abudaa Bee? Something like that... hadn't been treated. Needless to say, spending hours on end in the same hard, awkward seat pretending to listen to a series of droning lessons with nothing to do with anything important wasn't terribly high on her list of priorities.
But no, with Zafira and Nanoha resting up for the last shift before the Asura arrived late in the evening and Arf and Shamal to make sure Signum didn't do something to make her wounds even worse, she - and Hayate, to be fair - was stuck rotting in this idiot school.
A voice interrupted her thoughts. "Hey, wait, isn't that Fate-chan's mom?"
For all its academic excellence, the middle school the group Alyssa had wryly dubbed 'The Mage Gang' attended had rather old fashioned facilities - most infamously, from the students' viewpoint, its classrooms had a single ceiling-mounted projector screen to display visual media, rather than the networked notebook computers that some schools were beginning to use. Tama-sensei, their homeroom teacher, had left the classroom's example up and running, with the system sound turned all the way down, so that her students would be able to keep tabs on what might very well be the first truly important event of their lifetime, and when Fate raised her head to check, sure enough, there was Lindy Halloran, in her full Bureau dress uniform, no less, delivering her beaming 'professional' smile from above a banner reading 'CABLE NEWS NETWORK JAPAN - LIVE - 19:21:03 UTC 5/17/2012'.
Satou Jiro had been carefully ignoring the fact that most of his students were paying far more attention to the news' subtitles than they ever had to one of his algebra lessons, but once he had been alerted to the sudden fame of a person whom he had always regarded as being, at worst, a bit odd, he gestured the whispering crowd to silence and turned up the volume just in time to catch the latter part of one reporter's question. "-uture role in Earth's politics?"
"The treaties governing the Bureau's foundation specifically exclude it from taking part in any conflict that does not involve more than one world. The precedents have established that those limits do not extend to barring Bureau personnel from self-defense, or the organization as a whole from acting as an impartial judge or inspector, but both of the latter roles are only permitted at the explicit request of all concerned parties. Yes - with the brown scarf?"
"Junko Davis, MSNBC. Admiral Halloran, can you comment on the possibility of transfers of off-world technical and scientific information to Earth?"
"The Bureau takes no position regarding any natively-produced item or technology that a given world may or may not choose to trade. Our mandate is that those trades go forward unmolested, and that the worlds making them be secure from external threat. And... In the white suit?"
"Tanaka Kentaro, TV-Nihon. Admiral, could you be more specific about the recent... problems, and your Bureau's response to them?"
"Certainly. The attackers arrived directly at their targets using a short-ranged dislocation matrix, what might be called a teleportation spell, and began their operations by attempting to cause as many casualties as possible. The nature of their means of transportation suggests the presence of a forward base with a base-planar distance of no more than three parsecs from here, but they had taken considerable steps to counter our outpost's efforts to track their travel - steps which seem to have been specifically aimed at and only at the methods most commonly used by the Bureau.
"For logistical reasons, the databases of sector headquarters are limited to that sector and those immediately adjacent, and the invaders' language, uniforms, and matrix patterns - their chosen 'programming language', if you will - are unfortunately not included in those available here. The gathered data has been forwarded to Main Headquarters, to be compared with the archives there, but it will likely be several days before a match can be identified.
"In the meantime, three of the four Bureau patrol vessels assigned to this sector have been rerouted to Earth, and should begin arriving early this afternoon. Standard policy in a case of this severity will also see a full response squadron dispatched from Headquarters, and would have an additional fifteen ships in place by the end of next week. For the next few hours, however, security will be in the hands of local military forces and the sector' inspection team, as it was last night."
"Shinguuji Ichiro, Japan Times. This team would, presumably, include the teenaged girl from last night? Miss... Takamachi, I believe it was?"
"...It does, yes." Her voice became noticably chill, in place of its former careful neutrality. "How did you get that name?"
Shinguuji was outside the camera's field of view, but his voice, at least, was defensive. "She and my editor's daughter share a mutual accquaintance - enough for them to have been introduced. Which is entirely aside from the matter of your compelling a child into such a dangerous situation as last night."
Fate felt her jaw drop at the idea, and on the screen, her mother looked nearly as shocked for a moment - until her professional dignity shattered as she burst into giggles. "Compel?! Nanoha?!"

---

Note to self: check Chrono's job title. Also don't forget the Fate-angst.
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Sweno]

having recently finished watching MGLN-A's, I feel compelled to chip in.
Crono's title (according to Triad): Space-Time Administration Bureau Admiral
I can also see several countries not liking foreign troops operating in their territory, and attempting to snag some nice high tech things to study while they are at it. Once the girls have taken care of the invading force of course.
Also seeing the Wolkenritter (esp. Signum & Vita) come down like a ton of bricks on them, when they incorrectly assume that setting up broad range RF signal jammers will block telepathy.-Terry
------
"in comes a man in cameo with a american flag, because american flags float around in the wilderness." - Mike Keon
Please Remember: People are stupid... Programers are people.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[ordnance11]

If you're planning to run a black op..you're going to need a hefty dose of cash. Ubless your organization belongs to one of the "money is no object" things...and let's face it your going to be in the unlimited vareity to run this sort of operation..I see two possibilities...
A Huge conglomerate say in the scale of Wayne and Stark-Fujisawa Enterprises combined. The problem is that word of this type of operation will eventually get out. Especially in this type of scenario.
The other one, which is more likely..is an alliance between the a faction of the military and a criminal cartel. The military provides the "muscle" in return for an "appropriate" cut of the profits.
I case even name a historical case..the alliance between the "Black Dragon" secret society and the Japanese military in the 1930's. The Black Dragons controlled the drug trade in coastal China and Japan. They had a deal with the Japanese military...protection and "muscle" in return for a cut of the profits. In this case...security leaks are more "manageable".
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[katreus]

---

Fate felt her jaw drop at the idea, and on the screen, her mother looked nearly as shocked for a moment - until her professional dignity shattered as she burst into giggles. "Compel?! Nanoha?!"

---

Mwahaha... if compelling is like trying to order a hurricane or a force of nature!