Planet Shandoria
Climate: Temperate
A typical world with large oceans and continents supporting a variety of biomes.

Shandoria's capitol, located on its northeastern continent, was experiencing another beautiful day. Although relatively close to the borders of human space, they haven't had any major incidents in some time. That was about to change. In the UGN base of operations, a space station located in low orbit, an alarm was blaring.

"We're detecting a dimensional disturbance forming in the upper atmosphere," one of the technicians currently monitoring for such things relayed across the command deck. "It's got to be the Bydo, nothing else makes sense. From the size, it can't be a full-on invasion force."

"What the hell are they doing here then? Did they get lost or something?"

"That's really not for me to say, sir. It looks like there shouldn't be anything too big coming through, at least."

"Well, who do we have planetside? Send an alert and start evacuating the area. Contact any UGN mages available and get them there ASAP."

---

On the planet's surface, raid sirens that hadn't seen use in years began to wail to life. The sky darkened, clearly not from normal weather phenomena, as a crack scarred the heavens. The Bydo Incursion had begun.

On a military base nearby, Mana had a call. "Hello? Mana speaking."

"Good," the voice on the other end of the line was brusque, and one could hear some of he chatter going on in the room over the microphone. "The Bydo are here, we need every available soldier out there."

"I noticed," Mana replied. "The old air raid sirens are pretty unmistakable. I'm ready, if you need me."

"Thank you." A pause. "Are you sure you're up to it? If you need more time, I'm sure we can manage."

Mana sighed theatrically. "Of course I'm good to go. I've had enough time to process things, and I'd rather be out there than hiding in a bunker anyway."

"In that case, prepare for transport. We'll get you right there."

Teleportation. Safe, convenient, and always a little disorienting when some station grabs you and throws you somewhere else. At least Mana was in uniform and had Airgetlam on her. Not that she wouldn't, unless for some reason she was caught in the shower or in bed by the enemy. There's a thought. She stood where she was in her room, to give the station's tech an easier time. They probably did just get a lock on her comms or device, but every little bit helps. It wasn't long before she was enveloped in the familiar cool light, and dropped on a city street.

The young woman looked around. Things didn't look too bad, yet. Though, right up above, the pit the Bydo had crawled out of was just closing. Monsters were already swarming downward. It was time to go to work. "Arigetlam, switch on!" Mana shouted the activation key phrase for her device. Surrounded in silver light, the mage's clothing was replaced by the barrier jacket she wore, and her weapon likewise reformatted itself from its small, inactive form to that of a proper sword.

"We need a barrier field," Mana said to her device. "Set it to link up with any others, but the more area we can cover, the better to minimize the collateral damage." "Yes sir," replied her device in its posh accented voice, "deploying temporal field." A hemispherical bubble of energy began to expand from where Mana was standing. Barriers like these were a mage's battleground, a magic circle that would keep anything inside slightly out of step with reality, protecting anyone who wasn't a mage themselves from the consequences of the fight.

Mana sent out a general call via telepathy. <This is Mana Septima, preparing to engage. Anyone else out there?>

Tiera Ares wasn't exactly happy about her current assignment. Shandoria was a beautiful planet, and filled to the brim with different cultures and creatures, but working on the "hearts and minds" front of the UGN's fight against the Bydo Empire wasn't what she'd signed up for. And, given Raijin's behavior, her familiar wasn't thrilled that they weren't fighting. It was a trait bred into his species over hundreds of generations by the people of Austar, something that could be suppressed, but never eliminated. Raijin enjoyed a good scrap, and it had been too long since Tiera had gotten permission to let him run wild outside of simulations.

That all changed when the sky darkened and the alarms began blaring.

Tiera was in the park with Raijin. A couple of kids had insisted on getting a picture with her and the drake. She wasn't particularly well known as far as Mages went--a fact confirmed by a quick Gogol search--but the children had been so insistent. The children's expressions quickly shifted to one of worry as the sky darkened and cracked. Tiera knew what was about to come. She'd never seen it happen in person, but she'd seen enough footage of Bydo invasions in human space to know what was about to happen.

"Get to the closest shelter!" she instructed. Tiera felt a change in the atmosphere. A sizable burst of magical energy.

<This is Mana Septima, preparing to engage. Anyone else out there?>

Tiera blinked. She still wasn't used to the usage of telepathy. Unlike with most Mages, it didn't come naturally to her. <<Tiera Ares, reporting,> she projected. It took some conscious effort, but she got the message sent. <I'm assisting civilians to a nearby shelter. Once they're safe I can assist.>

<Got it.> Mana replied. I'm not the best with barriers, but I'll try to keep the Bydo off your back. Join up with me once you have those civilians safe.>

She knew she'd be buying time, but that makes it a bit more pressing. Mana looked up at the Bydo streaming down, and it seemed that other mages had already moved to join the battle, as flashes of light were exchanged between flying opponents up above. Her grip on the hilt of her sword was hard, to stop her hand from shaking. Was she afraid of these small fry? Nonsense. Mana rocketed into the sky to meet the enemy.

Most of the Bydo were some of the usual small mechanical craft. Small, mobile, and not very dangerous to any mage capable of paying attention, they were only a real danger in massed swarms, and even then wouldn't be much of a threat. Of course, the little guys usually were just a screen for something bigger. Hopefully, nothing bigger was going to drop down, or there could be real trouble.

Mana met the first group she encountered head-on, cutting through several of them with a single wave of energy from her sword, before she had to flit out of the way of the ones trailing behind them. Big groups like these were never her strong suit, but did she feel up to a duel with something more dangerous?

"Stardust tears," Mana shouted. "Full auto fire. Airgetlam, I'll leave the targeting to you." Blades of silver light formed around her, a few at a time, and launched themselves at nearby enemies as Mana focused on maneuvering around. As long as she could keep it up, that should put a dent into the enemy groups. At least enough to get their attention. Her real goal was to keep an eye out for anything falling right to the ground, because the last thing the city needed was some big ground-pounder running amok down there.