1June 28, 2558
Main Vehicle Bay, UNSC Yamato, Earth Orbit
1329 hours, Ship's Time
Dimensional Location: Prime Universe
By the time her senses returned to her, the first thing that registered to her conscious mind was the flashing crimson lights and blaring alarm klaxons filling the entirety of the vehicle bay. Had her random choice of return timing given her the fortuitous circumstance to board the Yamato in the middle of an attack? She smirked at the irony of it, flames erupting from her palms and wreathing up her arms as wispy silver tendrils of temporal magic swirled out of her body.
These unsuspecting enemy forces were about to get a whole hell of a lot more than they bargained for.
The thunderous sound of boots threatened the alarms' dominance of noise in the bay as countless Marines in the newer, post-Great War uniforms and armor entered the bay, and she began to mentally adapt her responses and combat stratagems to minimize collateral damage while protecting the maximum number of Marines from this threat. The fact that she had yet to register what the threat was—and the implications of such—didn't register in her mind until she heard the crescendo of rifles charging, and her tactile motion tracker nearly exploded from the registry of hostile attention.
A cold feeling of dread knotted in her guts. The flames on her arms flickering, she looked about the bay, staring down the barrels of close to a hundred MA-series assault rifles staggered on four separate levels. Over half of them registered as magicked weapons to her senses. Behind those steely-gazed Marines, two Mantis light walkers stomped into position; one on the ground floor with her and one on the upper level of the bay. Near the Mantis on the ground, an up-gunned Scorpion main battle tank sporting a rail cannon rolled from a row of its fellows, and a heavily-armed gunship Pelican descended from the ceiling, both bringing their absurd armaments to bear on her. The Pelican was cause for greatest concern; she could see a magic-disrupting spike pod dangling from one of its wing mounts.
For the briefest of moments, she wondered if eliminating that spook squad seventeen years ago had caused unforeseen consequences that had rippled out and somehow cost them the Third Mages vs. Mars battle, then over a dozen of the Marines started shouting orders at her simultaneously to disarm, depower her magic, put her hands on her head, behind her head, and keep them where they could be seen, as well as turn around, get on her knees, and lay on the ground. Though she knew that the overlapping, conflicting, and loudly-given orders were a psychological technique used by police and the military to keep an adversary confused and off-balance, there was no denying it was a powerful effect.
As this was going on, several more figures descended from above, the heavy bangs of their armored forms hitting the deck silencing the Marines' words in her mind. Their black armor was instantly-identifiable as ODST, and the threat reconfiguration of her armor warned her of six of them surrounding her. Two exuded magical auras, and as they brought their weapons to bear, the distinctive sound and accompanying flash of illumination from a plasma sword informed her that the one to her right rear was a Sangheili. Clearly, this defense force was expecting her; they'd even gone to the trouble of putting the most immediately-dangerous weapon in what was—figuratively at least—her weakest defensive zone.
Her eyes flicked to the right, catching the most fleeting glimpse of the Sangheili, his armor clearly of UNSC-make but still adhering to the alien species' aesthetics, then refocused her attention on the ODST directly in front of her. Though armed with a semi-automatic shotgun—apparently a new model—that fairly well exuded magic, the piercing stare she could feel from behind that impenetrable visor made it abundantly clear that the weapon itself was a mere formality. She glanced over the trooper's armor for any identifying marks, but the Helljumper's stance blocked her view of name plates and other identifiers that she could see without moving her head. And in this environment, any errant movements might get her killed.
A shiver ran down her spine, nearly overpowered by the buzzing of her motion tracker, and by the time she recognized the fact that she was in imminent danger, she found a blade of ice resting against the side of her neck, positioned for an instant-kill strike with a minimum of movement. Turning her head slowly, and ignoring the sudden flash of pain from the ice blade cutting through the first few millimeters of her skin, she caught sight of Evangeline at the other end of the blade, still half-phased into her shadow.
Chao smirked faintly. "I haven't seen a welcome like this since we stormed New York," she remarked. "It's nice to feel loved-yo."
The blonde vampire lord grinned cheekily in return, but there was no mistaking the evaluative look in her piercing gaze. After several moments, she appeared to be satisfied with whatever it was she was searching for, the ice blade vanishing with a gust of cold air. The high daywalker emerged fully from Chao's shadow, flicking her hair back over her shoulder, as the ODSTs surrounding her relaxed.
A voice boomed over the interior comms, "All forces, stand down from combat readiness. I say again, all combat teams stand down from alert posture. All personnel, resume normal shipboard routines."
As the rest of the Marines and combat vehicles dispersed, the ODST in front of her slung the shotgun onto the back of her armor and reached up to remove the helmet, revealing underneath it—as Chao had suspected—Alysia. Her cousin grinned broadly and stepped forward, enfolding her in a bone-crunching hug. "No ill effects from taking some of your own medicine, I see," the Helljumper remarked.
Chao rolled her eyes and, after returning the hug, punched Alysia lightly in her armored shoulder. "It was good, quick thinking-ne, but I could've made that transition on my own."
Alysia shrugged and clapped a hand on Chao's shoulder. "It all worked out in the end."
The Chinese genius nodded and looked around the bay at the dispersing troops. "So the Infinity's uniforms have made it into the rest of the fleet, I see."
From the side, Evangeline gave a long-suffering sigh in response to Chao's words. Already back in her adult form, she accepted a datapad from a Marine captain, scanning its contents as she remarked, "Some empty flag idea. The Great War is over, we're at peace with the majority of the galaxy, so we need new uniforms to show that things are different now." Her words dripped with sarcasm as she signed off on the pad, then returned it to the captain. "As if that were the truth."
She gestured with a tip of her head for Chao to follow her, then began to stride swiftly across the cavernous bay. Behind them, Alysia gave unheard orders to the ODSTs, who likewise dispersed, before she trotted to catch up to them.
Evangeline led them to an elevator, her fingers trailing across the holographic keys as the other two entered. The doors slid shut and the elevator began to ascend. Chao looked toward the blonde. "What's the current state of affairs?"
"Nascent Insurrectionist rumblings now that the Covenant is no longer a unifying threat and they perceive the UEG to be weak, ongoing conflict between the Sangheili and brutes. The Infinity is off playing peacemaker between the elites and the brutes, and all the various factional remnants of the Covenant have banded together under Jul 'Mdama, though at last report our friend Thel 'Vadam is busy kicking their teeth in."
"Then that Avu Med 'Telcam never fully recovered from that thrashing the Infinity gave him," Chao mused. "Good."
Evangeline shrugged. "That's not to say that the remnant still isn't an issue. Despite every setback, it seems they've stumbled onto the Covenant's bloody Katana fleet, and now that they've all united, a big enough army to crew it and conduct major operations."
Chao furrowed a brow. "That reference is lost on me-yo."
The blonde blinked in silence at her for a moment, then shrugged and waved it off dismissively as the lift doors opened. Stepping out, she explained, "A fleet of ships thought lost to hyperspace, or an admittedly-poor metaphor for the fact that they went from insignificant to possessing enough military force to threaten Infinity not once, but twice in the Requiem campaign."
"Is there a force strength estimate on them?"
Shaking her head, Evangeline paused before a set of doors, placing her right hand over a recessed mana receiver mounted in the wall. A brief flare of blue magic flared under her palm, and the doors slid open. Inside, her ready room was modestly furnished: her desk and three chairs for guests, a few non-Earth-native flowering plants scattered about, a display case of her exploits and accomplishments since she had started caring about such things, an adjacent door to her quarters, and the far wall covered by a holoprojector that was currently displaying the vista of space on the Yamato's port side.
"Every time we think we have a handle on their numbers and capabilities," she explained, taking a seat at her desk, "they show up with twice our estimate. I've mostly given up on trying to keep up."
She tapped a button at the edge of her desk, and the holoscreen built into its surface flared to life, projecting dozens of screens of reports and other information in the air. As she perused their contents, Chao and Alysia sat in two of the chairs arrayed opposite. The temporal mage crossed her legs, then tapped a finger to her chin. "So, what was all that back there in the hangar about-ne?"
The high daylight walker smirked as she sorted the displays into important reports and things she could leave for later, dismissing all of the latter windows. "A precautionary measure," she remarked, picking up a stylus and twirling it around her fingers for a moment. "We are both well aware of the infinite possibility of alternate universes. Now that you have created your Gateway Device, it is the height of folly to assume that we control the only one, even within our own universe."
On the holoplate inset into the table, Chachamaru's holographic form materialized in a haze of green. As opposed to her normal appearance wearing a UNSC uniform, her avatar was clad in her old Mahora uniform. "Indeed, when one considers the potential of infinite alternate universes, the probability that one or more of your other selves has created such a device approaches one."
Chao nodded, but before she could speak, the door slid open again, admitting a young-looking, dark-haired woman in a naval ensign's uniform. Chao noted the tray she carried along with the other details of her appearance—a sharp expression, hair cut short in a bob, but otherwise making an effort to look very unassuming—that suggested she was an orderly, but Chao knew better than to make such assumptions where Evangeline was concerned. She turned her attention back to Chachamaru and answered, "It is a likelihood that I have considered before. So the welcome..."
Ignoring the conversation at hand, the young woman set down an intricately-made china cup—one Chao recognized as dating way back to their school years—at Evangeline's elbow. "Your tea, Colonel."
With a grace that displayed her favor for Japanese tea ceremonies, Evangeline set her stylus down and lifted the cup. She took a breath of the tea's wispy vapors, then brought it to her lips and sipped the steaming liquid. Nodding once to the orderly, who turned and stood against the wall with the tray clasped before her, Evangeline turned back to Chao. "With the conclusion reached that we have no means of knowing how many other devices exist, it would invite disaster to assume that all such devices are controlled by altruistic individuals. Say, for example, there were an alternate world where we lost the Unification War, and Namusan Sapou, or worse, Gensai, gained control of the Device."
Chao grinned, but there was nothing pleasant about the expression. "Or the more likely case that one of my other selves is potentially a genocidal maniac-yo, which, to be fair, would take more than two platoons of Marines, a squad of Mage Knights, two walkers, a Scorpion, and a gunship Pelican to stop."
A long pause followed those words, and Chao could tell that even Evangeline was reconsidering having deemed her to be no threat. In the seat beside her, her cousin had one hand on her sidearm and was balancing herself halfway out of the chair with the other. Chachamaru looked ready to summon the entire ship's compliment of Marines to the room, and against the wall, the orderly woman was tensed in a clear martial posture, confirming Chao's suspicion that she was no mere orderly.
"Careful, Lingshen," Evangeline said tersely, as the ambient temperature in the room plummeted by at least ten degrees. "Your hubris is showing."
The Chinese genius blinked, and then her expression returned to normal with a suddenness that led the others to believe she'd stepped out of time to have a good laugh and get herself under control. "What's a few jokes between old friends?"
Evangeline said nothing, merely lifting her frost-coated cup and taking another sip of tea; the liquid having been specifically excluded from her ice effects. "In any case, what you witnessed was our response to any potentially-hostile incursion by another you. We're working on a means to determine whether any given individual is you or, for lack of a better term, alien."
Chachamaru spoke up then, light shimmering across her form, "We have baseline scans to the molecular level of yourself, Chao, in the theory that the diverse dimensions will have differences between individuals that can be measured before they have fully manifested in our world."
What the once-prototype of Chao's anti-Covenant combat androids left unspoken, however, was not lost on the Chinese genius. "So in short, I'm to be your early warning and guinea pig-ne." She laughed. "That suits me just fine. I had planned to do some light traveling anyway-yo. So, let us see this means of detection of yours."
Quantum Science Bay, Deck 31
1400 hours, Ship's Time
Owing to a call ahead of them by Chachamaru, the science division was prepared to present the device by the time they arrived. As they entered the secured area, military personnel snapped to attention at Evangeline's presence as the civilian staff largely ignored them in favor of continuing their work.
"As you were," Evangeline remarked offhand as she crossed the bay toward a row of monitors and interconnected equipment.
The device in question sat in the center of a magnetically-contained static-free field, connected to a power bank of fusion coils and monitoring equipment.
It was also the approximate size and shape as the average ammunition storage can.
Chao took one look at the device and frowned. "That's far too big-ne. It would be impossible to take readings on a subject without their being aware of it."
The head scientist, an unassuming man with a prosthetic eye and a sort of a rat-like face, smiled thinly at her proclamation. His expression suggested he thought of her no better than any other non-intellectual that had come along to pass judgment on his projects. "For having the most advanced sensor suite available to the UNSC, I think we managed to make it quite compact," he said. "Fortunately, there's no need to lug it around like a Spartan neanderthal."
Alysia quirked a smile. "I like this one."
The scientist chuckled. "There's something to be said for mere mortals who don't wear an entire starship for protection," he told her. "It forces you to engage your foe creatively rather than just pummel them to death."
The descendant of the great martial artist Ku Fei, and inheritor of all her skills, just smiled broadly in return. She chose not to burst his bubble by informing him that 'pummel to death' went a long way to aptly describing the way she usually dealt with her foes.
"The device, Doctor Haverton," Evangeline said flatly, a hint of impatience in her voice.
Turning back to it, the doctor picked up what appeared to be an ODST glove and forearm assembly from a table outside the static-free field, insulated cables connecting the assembly to the device. Slipping his arm into it, he sealed the assembly in place with a latching sound they were all intimately familiar with.
"This is just the prototype test version of the scanning instrument," he explained. "The operational one will plug directly into Miss Lingshen's battle armor."
Turning, he pointed his hand at Chao and five thin streamers of light shout out of the fingers and traced a wireframe down her body. Looking down at herself, she was reminded of what she had seen from the Master Chief's data recorders of whenever a Forerunner device scanned him. She reasoned that such a thing probably was in play here; no reason to think that Forerunner tech hadn't been adapted for their use.
One of the screens nearby lit up, displaying the data collected on her by the scanning glove. The fidelity of the display was rather impressive: on top of the expected information on her current bioreadings and vital signs, it also had a breakdown of her exact chemical and molecular composition, could measure such abstract concepts as her mana reserves and the altered way that time interacted with her body, and even such hitherto impossible-to-detect datapoints as the aura that marked her as a Chosen Hero.
As it was displaying this information—and even more—Haverton calmly explained, "The treasure trove of data Infinity brought back from Requiem advanced the field of communication over great distances, and most importantly, between slipspace and normal space, by centuries at the very least. Using that, as well as the new knowledge on portal technology and the flat-space dimensional compression technology developed by Miss Lingshen, the device's main unit can be stored in her metaphysical storage space, communicating supraluminally with the sensors built into her glove. As an added combat benefit, Miss Lingshen can also use it as a general purpose biometric scanner to receive data on the exact strengths and weaknesses of those she encounters."
The Chinese genius nodded appreciatively, grinning despite herself. "Impressive. Now we need but to determine whether or not it can tell the difference between our world and others-ne. How long will it take to be completed?"
"Three days, barring unforeseen disasters," Haverton answered. "We will, of course, need your battle suit to complete the adjustments."
Nodding again, Chao's form seemed to flicker and displace for a moment, only to solidify again an almost-imperceptible distance from where she had stood. Where before she had been wearing her third-generation battlesuit, she now wore a Mahora uniform, the battlesuit folded up neatly and draped over her left arm.
"That suits me just fine," she remarked as she handed it over to one of Haverton's assistants. "I have a few time loops to ensure the stability of, anyway-ne."
June 29, 2558
New Legaspi Orbital Tether, Martian Orbit
0819 hours, Martian Standard Time
Even with her ability to travel the width and breadth of time and space, there was something to be said for slowing down and doing things the old-fashioned well. Or well, as 'old-fashioned' as choosing to ride an orbital elevator could be. It was far too rare that she ever took the time to enjoy the little things, like watching the sun crest from behind the curve of Mars as she descended from orbit in the New Legaspi space tether. The windows of the descent vehicle auto-polarized to filter the blinding glare while minimally-impacting the vista.
Just within view, an Autumn-class heavy capital ship rose from the atmosphere, its running lights blinking languidly as its mass momentarily eclipsed the sun. As shadow fell over her, she could make out the ship's name, vividly painted on its hull in white: UNSC Springfield. She smiled broadly at the sight of that name; she had no idea if it was named for her Great Ancestor, but she had no reason to believe that it wasn't. The vibrancy of the ship's name as well as the pristine state of its hull suggested that it was newly-launched, and as she watched, close to a dozen cargo loaders detached from the tether and moved toward the Springfield, laden with fresh supplies for the ship's starbound journeys.
As the lifter descended into the atmosphere, the sun returned from behind the capital ship's shadow, illuminating it brilliantly from—to her perspective—below. To her, this was a prime example of humanity's unshakeable spirit, that no matter how many times we as a species were knocked down, we would always continue to keep getting up, dusting off, and moving forward. To her, the sight of her ancestor's namesake heading out into space vindicated her beliefs and everything she had ever done.
It wasn't for nothing, Akira, she thought solemnly, remembering the men aboard the Athens, on that day that seemed so long ago. That day that had set her down the path she still continued to walk each day. Your lives weren't wasted...
As she contemplated those events, her mind wandered through the thought that she hadn't seen her parents since before departing for the 'Third Mages vs. Mars' operation, and had no idea what they had been told about her disappearance afterward. Of course, it was entirely likely that they had been told the truth of the events, but she still felt compelled to visit them.
Nodding to herself, she settled back into her seat and closed her eyes, waiting for the lifter to reach the spaceport.
Watney Interplanetary Spaceport, Exit
New Legaspi, Mars
1022 hours
The hustle and bustle of the busiest spaceport on Mars faded away behind her as Chao stepped out of the main entryway. Before her stretched the city that she regarded as her birthplace, its spires and buildings reaching for the stars and far out to the horizon. She endeavored to commit to memory the sight of New Legaspi glittering under the midmorning sun. In the future, whenever she wondered if her trials were worth the effort, she would reflect back on this view of her home city in peace.
"It is quite the inspiring view, madam," a voice to her right said, drawing her out of her contemplations.
She looked over to see an unassuming-looking young woman, likely in her mid to late twenties, with shoulder-length dark blue hair styled to leave the left side of her forehead uncovered. She wore a well-tailored suit that Chao knew firsthand carried more knives than a five-star restaurant.
"Ah, I didn't expect to meet you here, Bridget," she said amiably.
The woman bowed in response, her expression unchanging in its neutrality. "Colonel McDowell informed your parents of your arrival and I was bade come to the spaceport to bring you home, Master Chao." Bridget raised her head and regarded the other woman evenly. "Your parents are greatly anticipating your return. Have you no luggage?"
Chao smirked wryly. "It's not as though I brought souvenirs-ne." She paused. "Or would they be considered antiques now?"
The other woman's face was impassive; if she got the joke, she gave no visual indication that she did. "I believe an item has to be affected by the passage of time to be considered an antique, Master Chao," she deadpanned, seemingly choosing to ignore said joke entirely. She gestured to her right. "This way, then, if you please."
Chao followed her to the passenger pick-up and drop-off area, where a similarly-dressed man stood next to a luxury car that looked to be only perhaps a year or two behind the current model. The man opened the rear door for them as they neared.
At least it's not a limo, Chao mused to herself as she climbed into the far seat and secured her seat belt. That sort of luxury made her uncomfortable; her family's wealth had never really registered with her during her childhood, and most of her adult life had been spent on the battlefield, and even the not-insignificant amount of funding she had procured for herself via the Chao Bao Zi had been spent on preparing Operation: VALID, the very first of the 'Mages vs. Mars' events.
Bridget entered the car after her, taking the seat nearest the door and shutting it behind her. A few moments later, the driver started the car and drove away from the spaceport. As they merged onto the elevated highway that connected the cities of Mars, Chao looked out the window.
Driving was done on the left side of the road on Mars, so her position in the car allowed her to look beyond the edge of the highway and to the busy city beyond, her view unobstructed by other lanes or vehicles. Extending for some miles within her sight was the New Legaspi Wildlife Reserve, the largest zoo of its kind in the Sol system, housing painstakingly-maintained habitats of nearly every type of creature found through human-occupied space. Thanks to the effects of the Human-Covenant War, many of the species found in that zoo were now the last of their kind. It had been her favorite place to visit as a child, and looking at it now, there seemed to be an expansion taking place.
Bridget noticed her attention. "Since the cessation of formal hostilities with the Covenant, and the end of magic suppression, the Reserve has partnered with entrepreneurial Kig-Yar trackers and conservationists from Terras Magicus to bring in species native to Covenant worlds and the magic world. The new exhibits are scheduled to open in 2560."
"Well, I'll have to visit again when it opens-ne," Chao mused, turning to squint into the construction areas. Because of the distance, however, she could not make out anything of note within.
"Permit me the impertinence of asking, but can you not simply step forward in time rather than wait for it to progress naturally?" Bridget asked.
"I could, yes," Chao answered, drawing out the middle of her reply. "But I prefer to avoid such frivolous abuses-ne. Besides," she smirked over at her family's maidservant, "if I skipped around to all the interesting things, then my life would get boring rather fast-yo."
Bridget nodded thoughtfully. "A very thoroughly-considered viewpoint," she admitted.
The Chinese genius lifted her left hand, watching as silvery wisps of temporal energy danced between her fingers. "The power I possess is at once a devastating game-changer, a great blessing, and a dreadful burden-yo. Evangeline and I both greatly fear what havoc a wicked individual could wreak with my power-ne, and I am full aware that the moment I stop respecting that power, I will become the very thing we fear-yo."
"It is that very concern for doing right that makes you the most suited to wield that power, Master Chao," Bridget said, as though it were so simple a conclusion that even a child could have drawn it. "Surely, it brings great pride to your parents to see such a strong moral center in you."
Chao smiled. "Well, I have them to thank for it-ne. Were it not for their love and guidance, who knows what kind of villain I'd have become." She paused for a moment, then smirked. "Not bad for the daughter of terrorists-yo."
"From such beginnings, to become a hero of worlds is quite the pedigree, indeed," Bridget agreed.
"One I hope to continue to uphold-ne," Chao said, mostly to herself, looking down once more at her hands.
From the other seat, Bridget regarded Chao silently for a moment, then turned her attention to the road ahead of them. That ever-present concern for maintaining her moral guidance ensured that the mage would always be a hero of the people, as far as Bridget was concerned.
Lingshen Family Residence
1218 hours
As the vehicle entered the grounds of the residence and headed toward the garage, a discreet holoplate built into the floor of the car activated, displaying Artemis' avatar above it.
The AI smiled broadly. "Welcome home, Chao. Your parents are waiting for you in the study."
"Thank you, Artemis," Chao said, smiling as well. "It's good to be home."
The driver let them out at a side entrance before continuing on. Bridget opened the door for Chao to enter, waving the Chinese genius in ahead of her. Stepping into the home that had shaped her, Chao took a deep breath and looked around. She could faintly detect the scent of the spices her mother favored in her cooking, and her mouth began to water in a Pavlovian response.
Despite standing behind her, Bridget picked up on her reaction. "We are preparing steamed carp as the evening's meal to commemorate your return," the dark-haired woman explained. "Through the newly-opened trade agreements with the Sangheili, we have acquired a species of carp native to Sangheilios that will be the main course of the evening meal."
"That sounds like it will be quite the adventure," Chao replied, picking up her pace slightly as she moved through the halls of her home. "I can hardly wait-yo."
In only moments, the double doors of the study loomed before her, and she reached out with both hands to shove them open. Inside, surrounded by rows and rows of bookshelves and other rare and priceless items, were the man and woman who had set her on the path to the Hero she was today. Her father, seated in a chair with his back to the door, watched a news holo, while her mother sat facing the door, a thick and very old-looking book in her lap.
Both of them reacted to the noise of Chao's entrance: her father stood from his chair and turned toward her, and her mother stood with such haste that the book she was reading slipped from her lap.
Bridget was suddenly and inexplicably beside the chair, deftly catching the book before it could hit the floor. Without a word, the maidservant closed the book—allowing Chao to glimpse its cover and realize with some humor that it was a copy of On a Wing and a Storm—and moved to return it to its proper place on the shelves.
Chao closed the distance and embraced both of her parents at once, feeling like a little girl again despite being a head taller than her mother. And having the physical strength to lift them both over her head.
"You've certainly grown up strong, my daughter," her father joked, a hint of strain in his voice.
Her cheeks colored faintly as she let them go and took half a step backwards. Both of them kept a hand on either of her shoulders, however, and she wouldn't have it any other way. "I'm sorry, Father," she said, reverting to their native Chinese. "I have forgotten myself."
He laughed and patted her on the head affectionately. "It's quite alright. These old bones could use a good squeeze or two from time to time. Help keep the blood flowing."
Chao smiled, but before she could say anything, her mother gazed up at her with a wistful smile. "You have grown into such a strong young woman, my beautiful girl," she said. "Your father and I couldn't be more proud of you."
"It is all because of the love and guidance that the two of you have shown me," Chao answered. "Without that, I wouldn't have been in a position to do any of the things I've done. But because of that, I deeply regret how little I've been home to see you." She hung her head in shame. "It is inexcusable."
"Nonsense," her mother admonished, lifting her head with a gentle touch beneath her chin. "You are a hero of the people and a champion of humanity. There is plenty to keep you occupied, my dear, and we both cherish the time that we do get to spend with you."
Chao raised an eyebrow. "But my power is over time itself. It would be trivially-easy to arrange matters so that I am both here and where the defense of humanity needs me."
Her father nodded thoughtfully. "It would be trivial for my genius of a daughter, but you could not with a straight face tell me you would trivialize your power in such a way."
She chuckled weakly. "I'd be lying if I said otherwise, and as I've said on many occasions, Martians don't lie."
"The unofficial motto of our humble planet." Her father smiled. "But enough of that. You have come home to rest while awaiting one of your projects, so let us dispense with the flatteries. Come, let us get you a change of clothes, and hear what you have been up to. We have some time left until dinner, after all."
"It has been years since we last truly saw you," her mother agreed, gently tracing her fingers over Chao's facial features. "We understand it was to protect us as you and your comrades moved against ONI, but even before then, when the Covenant came to Earth, we had thought you lost as a child, only for a grown woman, noble and strong, to return to us."
Chao started to look down in shame, then lifted her gaze and cracked a smile. "At least you got to skip my rebellious teenage years?"
Both her parents laughed. "And what a rebellious phase it was!" her father agreed. "Overturning centuries-old hierarchies at the ripe old age of sixteen."
"I would love to hear your stories from the time you spent in the past," her mother said. "Certainly you would tell the tales better than the history books, and it would make for wonderful conversation until and during dinner."
"It is quite a long story," Chao answered.
"That should be no challenge at all for the woman who bends time to her will with the ease of breathing," her father smiled.
Four hours later
"...and so we fully expected to be executed for treason. Alysia knew they would come down the hardest on me, and so she took matters into her own hands: she had somehow gotten her hands on a Cassiopeia, activated it, managed to plant it on me, then shot me with one of the CTL rounds she had left."
Chao paused in the recalling of the Third Mages vs. Mars event to finish off the last of her steamed Sangheili carp. The alien fish was similar enough to most seafood she had encountered, but had a pleasant, smoky flavor to it that was unique in her experiences. Adding it to the menu of the Chao Bao Zi in this time period was a new priority of hers.
"When I next awoke, it was 2015 again," she continued. "I had thought to remain in that era, but certain developments in the effort to construct the Mahora tether, terraform Mars, and stabilize the Magic World prompted me to take direct involvement. So I tweaked the effects of a Shaw-Fujikawa drive, added a bit of magic into the workings, and did something I've since determined to be a Very Bad Idea but would probably still do again if in that scenario."
Seated across the short end of the table from her, her mother reflected on what she had read from the book in the study. "This was when you brought the Twilight Princess, your classmate Asuna, back to the twenty-first century after her power had stabilized the Magic World."
Chao nodded. "After all she had done, in both the Unification War and in sacrificing a hundred years to ensure the stability of the Magic World, I felt she deserved to live her life with her friends, rather than in a time period that was utterly alien to her."
It was then that the door to the dining room opened and Bridget stepped in, holding a portable holoplate with its glowing upper surface turned toward her body, indicative of a paused communication; the party on the other end would see nothing more than a blank holofield. She approached the table and bowed. "Please forgive the intrusion, but a Doctor Haverton from the UNSC Yamato is most insistent on speaking to Master Chao."
Chao looked to her parents, then turned an unamused look to the holoplate in Bridget's hands and let out a long-suffering sigh. "Very well, just to get him out of hour hair. Connect him, Bridget."
The maidservant nodded, then turned the device upright and manipulated its controls. Projected in a hazy field an inch above its surface, the annoyed-looking hologram of Haverton stared out at Chao.
"Doctor Haverton," she began, switching back to English for his convenience. "I trust this is a matter of utmost seriousness-yo."
"An unexpected catch has come up regarding the battlesuit project," he said, then pointedly stared away from Chao, directly at her parents.
The Chinese genius gave him a frosty smile. "I assure you, Doctor, that my parents still possess the requisite security clearance necessary to be privy to this conversation-yo. Further, as this is not a UNSC military project, and rather an extension of one of my own, not only does it mean that standard security classifications do not apply, but through me it becomes something of a side Misriah project-ne. Which, oh look–"
Here, she gestured to her parents with both hands.
"Two of Misriah's most respected shareholders should have knowledge of to protect their investments." In this case, 'investment' meant Chao herself as much as it did the battlesuit project in question.
"You have made your point quite abundantly, Miss Lingshen," the doctor said, sighing in irritation. "In any case, our existing plan for the sensor information entailed the delivery of gathered data to an extant HUD overlay, but it has come to our attention that you have historically eschewed the use of headwear."
Chao snorted. "'Historically.' I am considered historical-yo." She sobered. "So, you are stymied by data reception on the sole basis that I don't wear helmets?"
"'Stymied' is not the word I would choose. We merely wish to touch base on the matter before we commit to a decision which may find itself reversed by your preferences."
"Would I be correct in assuming that you have approached me with suggestions?" Chao asked, pushing aside her dinner plate and clasping her hands together on the table.
"A few, yes." The hologram of the doctor vanished, replaced with a wireframe of a headband-mounted monocular eyepiece that spun in the air over the holoplate. "The simplest method is wearing an external HUD device, such as this one or a standard-issue helmet HUD. Not that we expect this is the method you'd choose." The wireframe blinked out, and Haverton's image returned. "Another means would be to upgrade your battlesuit to function with existing VISR software. With all the variants of second-generation MJOLNIR flying about, it should be child's play to adapt or create a new model for your purpose."
Chao brushed this off. "Though I've taken many cues from MJOLNIR in the creation of my battlesuit-ne, I prefer the model I am using so as not to limit my mobility."
"Irony of ironies that armor that allows for and interfaces with superhuman reaction speed and reflexes can be considered overencumbering by anyone," Haverton chuckled. "Given your fondness for technology, however, I think you might prefer this next method." His image disappeared again, this time replaced with what looked like a simple contact lens. "For the benefit of the elder Lingshens, this is a relic from the early twenty-first century called a 'contact lens'. It is a wearable vision adjustment worn over the eye. What we are proposing is similar, conceptually. We have taken a standard cybernetic optical prosthetic and removed everything but the lenticular surface, which we will surgically attach to Miss Lingshen's eyes. She will retain her normal vision and lose nothing, only gaining the ability to have HUD information displayed directly onto her vision. Further, she will have a benefit over all users of existing systems given that she will be able to access information at the speed of thought."
Both of Chao's parents gave her looks of concern, and the temporal mage herself narrowed her eyes at the holoplate. "I have, until this time, traditionally preferred to avoid direct modification of the human body as much as possible-ne," she said. "Given what ONI did to me as a child in that regard, my distaste for such augmentation speaks for itself. But if it is my objective to protect this reality, then I can't allow my personal feelings to interfere with my ability to do this job that I've taken upon myself." As she had spoken, she had looked toward her parents, and now turned her attention back to Haverton. "Doctor, when can this be done?"
"We can have them on a Pelican and delivered as early as tomorrow. The timetable of your recovery from surgery should coincide nicely with the expected time it will take to finish adding the sensor to your battlesuit."
"Then I look forward to being able to take your work into the field, Doctor," Chao said, nodding at Bridget to indicate the conversation was over. As the holoplate was deactivated and Bridget left, Chao smiled to her parents. "The time until the prosthetics arrive and the forced downtime afterward should give me all the time I need to get started on one of my most ambitious projects yet."
Her father smirked toward her. "I doubt you can get much more ambitious than devices that allow you to cross time, space, and dimensions at will."
She smiled wryly. "Ah, but for it to be able to protect me while I'm out exploring other worlds, I definitely can't be lacking in ambition when it comes to working on this Project µ."
July 2, 2558
Chao's Room, Lingshen Residence
0815 hours, Martian Standard Time
True to Doctor Haverton's word, a Pelican had arrived from the Yamato the next morning, carrying not just the proposed optical augmentation devices, but the best cybernetic surgery team available to the ship. The Pelican had picked up Chao and her parents to take them to the nearest metropolitan hospital, where a surgery suite had been reserved in advance for the operation. Once the preparations had been completed, Chao had been anesthetized and gone under the knife around noon.
Surgery on her left eye had gone well, but complications arose midway through the connection of the right implant to her optical nerves. There had been a brief release of her magic energy that surged through the device and its energy connections. Its effects were short-lived, and contained to the immediate location of her eye, but still forced the cybernetics team to reroute the device's connections in place. Fortunately, she had been spared permanent loss of vision in that eye, but she would suffer slight signal degradation from that implant, as well as the change of her iris' color from natural brown to a dark crimson.
She had spent the rest of that evening and the next day in recovery, her eyes bandaged to allow them time to recover from the invasive procedure, tended to by several rotating mage healers to speed her recovery time. By the second day's night, she had been cleared to return home to rest. Once home, she had immediately begun working on her new project, using holographic touch inputs and a lot of assistance from Artemis. At the very least, she had a strong foundation to begin with; drawing on the base of knowledge of the Tanaka, Chachamaru, and Intelligent Target Silencing Unit programs, she was able to skip the basics and go directly into the new framework of Project µ.
As Chao awoke on the third morning, she sensed the presence of others in her room and lifted her head slowly from her pillow. At the same time, she stretched her arms and legs out beneath her bedspread, relishing in the feeling of her muscles expanding and contracting.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," her father's voice said from near her left foot. "You were up so late working on your new project that I didn't think you would be up before nightfall."
Chao turned her head toward his voice and smiled. "Ah, but you forget that I can stop time and sleep as long as I like."
There was a brief pause, which she envisioned was filled by her mother and father exchanging looks—whether of incredulity or humor she couldn't quite decide—during which she listened to the humming of the air conditioning vents. "Did you?" her mother finally asked.
Her smile turned into her villainous grin. "That's a secret."
She heard her door open, but could not see her parents' attendant nurse walk in, having been summoned silently by Artemis. "Good morning, Miss Chao. With the healing you've gotten, your eyes should be fully recovered by now. Are you ready to get those bandages off?"
Chao smiled. "Yes please. It will be nice to be able to see again. And, in theory, see better."
She felt hands touch her head, and the pressure of the bandages slackened as they were unraveled, and finally, the gauze pads were lifted from her eyes. Slowly, mindful of the light level in her room, she opened her eyes, allowing them to become accustomed to the light which was to her, having been in darkness for three days, painfully bright. Around her bed, her parents and the nurse watched her intently, while Artemis observed silently from the holoplate on her bureau. Chao took a moment to look around the room. Her visual acuity was no different, and she couldn't immediately see anything that a normal human shouldn't be able to see, but she could feel a difference, an immutable presence surrounding the edges of her mind.
Things like that were why she despised direct bodily augmentation.
"Well, I don't see a difference," she reported, "but that's as likely because I'm not wearing my armor. But I can sense a difference. It's...hard to explain."
"I've analyzed what I can of your implants," Artemis stated. "Even without the use of powered armor, from what I've gathered, you should still be able to utilize a rudimentary VISR-like system that utilizes your own senses, perception, and memory."
"Let's give it a go, then." She closed her eyes and concentrated, building a picture in her mind of the multicolored visual overlay of the Visual Intelligence System: Reconnaissance software pioneered in combat by the ODSTs and then adopted, in one form or another, by nearly every other UNSC combat force. She felt something shift in her mind, and then opened her eyes.
She wasn't as surprised as she thought she might have been to see the tell-tale friend-or-foe imaging surrounding the people in her room, each of them now bearing a thin green outline to distinguish them as allies. As an experiment, she focused her gaze on the nurse and concentrated hard on thoughts of hostility. To her expectations, the outline of the nurse changed, becoming a slightly-thicker red outline warning of enemies. She reversed the thought process, and the nurse's outline returned to green.
"It's likely confirmation bias, but it does seem to work exactly like VISR, and I can alter whether it perceives someone as friend or foe," she stated, then glanced over at the holoplate, which had a yellow outline. Interesting.
Sitting up in her bed, she threw her covers to one side and draped her legs over the side of the bed. She didn't even stop to reflect on the plasma scars still on her legs—covered as they were by her pajamas, they were out of sight and out of mind—or the fact that her parents may not even be aware of her having the scars or how she got them.
"I'm not fond of having a machine in my head—which is a great and humorous irony coming from perhaps the greatest proponent of machines for combat that has ever lived—but I'll learn to live with it," she remarked, standing up and stretching her arms above her head. "In the meantime..."
She picked up two small slabs of metal from her nightstand and powered on the devices, creating a holographic, hard light keyboard that formed between them and a screen of the same that floated above. Holding the edge of the micro-computer with her right hand, she flipped through several screens of data with her left, nodding in satisfaction at the information displayed on them.
As she powered down the device, she looked around at her parents, Artemis, and the nurse. "I'd like to get to actually see how my project is taking shape."
Research Lab, Lingshen Residence
0825 hours
Chao's parents were not merely shareholders at Misriah Armory, they had also been researchers at the company prior to their retirement. As such, they had added a research center to their home every bit as advanced as that within the main Misriah complex. Many of Chao's magic-based technological developments, such as the prototype form of the Spartan laser that had gone on to eventually become her 'funnel' weapons, had been developed within, and it was already continuing that fine tradition, housing what she was considering to be her magnum opus.
The lion's share of the work had been built upon the foundation of her earlier humanoid robotic combat programs, allowing her to skip ahead to the new design and equipment of the new program. For this one, she would spare no expense, and benefited from even further groundwork that had been laid by Evangeline, who had known that this day would come and gathered material accordingly.
As she strode into the lab, clad in her newly-upgraded battlesuit, she passed by dozens of shelves of assorted projects and research in various states of work and half a dozen workstations, heading for the one against the far wall that sat adjacent to a large transparent tube large enough to hold a human body in.
At the moment, it was filled with a semi-translucent gel-like fluid within which floated a human-like metal skeleton. The fluid was an amniotic-like fluid of sorts, promoting and speeding the growth of the organic covering over the metal framework. Currently, only the head and shoulders had been fully covered by the living tissue, allowing the hair-like cooling fibers to not look utterly alien attached to a metallic skull instead of the 'human' head of a young girl. The cooling fibers themselves, longer than the machine was tall, were a light blonde that darkened to pink at the ends.
"So this is your grandest creation," her father said as he stepped up to stand on Chao's left side, gazing into the tank at the partially-complete machine. "Above all your other weapons, above even the Cassiopeia."
"Not only that, but her protector and guardian," her mother said, standing on her right side.
"And well suited to that task she is," Chao smiled. "Her reactor could power two Infinity-class starships, programmed with the sum total knowledge of human combat data—including magic—and constructed of the same alloy that the Forerunners built their deadliest warships from. And with a built-in Cassiopeia, the only true match for her is, well, me."
"Not that combat is her primary purpose," her mother remarked with a knowing smile.
Lowering her head slightly, Chao's smile fell at the corners. "It's kind of pathetic, isn't it? Even with all the comrades I have across time, I still have to build my own friends."
"Nothing 'pathetic' about it," her father assured her, laying his hand on her shoulder. "After all, you are not bound by time. You have those you are close to here, and you have those you are close to in the past, but we and they are bound by the lives we have in our respective time periods." With his other hand, he gestured to the tank before them. "But she is not bound in any such way, and can be a constant companion to you." He nodded down to the base of the tank, where a Cassiopeia was plugged into the machine. "Even more with that, to ensure that she will not age in any fashion."
"You do have a point about that," Chao said, stepping forward and laying her palm on the glass. She smiled at the machine within. "I can hardly wait to meet you, Myu..."
