Line #14 Fanfic/TheTSABActurusWar


1	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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3	''[[http://forums.spacebattles.com/showthread.php?t=162743 The TSAB - Acturus War]]'' by rider of war a.k.a lord admiral belisarius ([[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5802489/1/The_TSAB_bActurus_b_War also available on FanFiction.net]]) is a ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' fanfic.
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5	Five years after the Scaglietti incident, the Time-Space Administration Bureau faces a new threat: the expansionist Democratic Republic of Acturus. In response to Acturus's hostile actions, including against a Bureau-administered world, the Bureau sends men and materiel to make an example of it.
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7	Be warned: It suffers from the dark side of GrowingTheBeard, more accurately the weak starting chapters aspect. While how much better it gets is something that YMMV about, most seem to agree that the beginning leaves something to be desired.
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9	Now complete.
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11	----
12	!!This fanfic contains examples of the following tropes:
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14	%%* AFatherToHisMen: Field Marshall Parker.
15	* AMillionIsAStatistic: Averted initially, as names were given to some of the RedShirts that died at the start to add more weight to them. YMMV on its effectiveness.
16	%%* AcePilot: The DRA has some.
17	* AbnormalAmmo: The TSAB redshirt's standard firearm fires mana bolts.
18	* AntiVillain: The DRA develops into this. Not everyone is a bloodthirsty expansionist; they are still people.
19	* ArmorIsUseless: Averted. Lt. Rakas recalls that the gorget of her armour protected her from shrapnel, while the main suit took dozens of hits from insurgent fire.
20	* TheBattlestar: Bureau capital craft almost all carry a space-capable mage complement.
21	* {{BFG}}: The guns of [[spoiler: the DRA's artificial mages]] are 20mm.
22	%%* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: Shank says this after his loss to Vita.
23	%%* BigDamnHeroes: Inverted when the Assault Troopers show up to help their muggle comrades.
24	%%* CoolPlane: The DRA's Lancer and eXperimental High-Maneuver Fighter (XHMF).
25	%%* CradlingYourKill: Shank did this for his first.
26	%%* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Being exposed to vacuum.
27	* DirtyBusiness: [[spoiler: Nanoha regrets that the power of the Starlight Breaker needed to blow through a mountain to reach Field Marshall Parker's command post leads to the death of several DRA personnel.]]
28	* DungeonBypass: [[spoiler: Nanoha using a Starlight Breaker to blow through a mountain to reach Field Marshall Parker's command post.]]
29	* EliteMooks: The DRA's Assault Troopers, who are mages on top of their conventional military special forces prowess. We only see four named ones in action, but they make a good account of themselves considering that their opponents are TSAB high-tier assets (read: Nanoha, Fate, Vita and Signum).
30	* ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: Both used and averted; Rakas and Hennessey's squad are grunts and have the most screentime of the DRA forces, but the Assault Troopers are elites and get quite a bit of focus too, and the TSAB perspective also switches between redshirts and aces.
31	* EnergyWeapon: Used as point-defence systems. "Unless you were many millions of kilometers away, there was no dodging a laser."
32	* ExplosiveOverclocking: [[spoiler: The crew of the ''Sacred War'' do this with their particle cannon in their LastStand.]]
33	* FacelessGoons: The majority of DRA troops, but particularly Assault Troopers, whose BadassCreed is variations on "no one unmasks an Assault Trooper and lives".
34	* FakeUltimateMook: [[spoiler: The DRA artificial mages, who do okay against TSAB grunts but get stomped by Signum and Vita.]]
35	* FightsLikeANormal: While the DRA does have mages and magic weapons, it also uses magic as an adjunct to projectile weapons eg. maintaining weapons and auto-loading tank rounds. Furthermore, the vast majority of its weapons are mass-based, such as standard rifles, tank guns, artillery pieces and starship coilguns.
36	%%* FixedForwardFacingWeapon: [[spoiler: ''Sacred War'''s particle cannon.]]
37	* ForegoneConclusion: The author has been forthright about the fact that the TSAB will win. The story is in the journey there, not what end.
38	%%* GeneralRipper: Field Marshall Parker's old mentor was one of these.
39	* GreyAndGrayMorality: The author's stated intention. While individual characters may be anywhere in the MoralityKitchenSink, [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/showpost.php?p=4670869&postcount=8 both sides as a whole are assholes]].
40	* GroinAttack: [[spoiler: Lt. Rakas gives one to Sgt. Hennessey, but it's definitely PlayedForLaughs.]]
41	* HonorBeforeReason: Inverted by Acturan Admiral Calhoon, who surrendered because "reason comes before honor".
42	* IKnowYouKnowIKnow: How Fate defeats Smiley in their second and final run-in. [[spoiler: Smiley sees Fate repeating the blast attack that took him out the first time. With his drug-granted SuperReflexes, he attempts to dodge it, but Fate had anticipated that he would do so and performed it slightly differently, still catching him.]]
43	* InterserviceRivalry: The DRA has some of this. Infantry deride armour as "softies" and the armour returns the favour with "crunchies". Hennessey also takes some potshots at the Air Force and dry Navy.
44	%%* ItHasBeenAnHonor: Said by [[spoiler: the DRA's Rear Admiral Vaina as the ''Sacred War'' makes its LastStand.]]
45	%%* KillItWithFire: Thermobaric rounds are employed.
46	%%* KnuckleCracking: Brute does this before engaging Signum.
47	* LastSecondChance: [[spoiler: The Bureau's leader aims to offer "one last chance at mercy for the Acturans" even after the ''Sacred War'' and Deep Space Fleet carry out a decapitation strike on Mid-Childa that leaves millions dead.]]
48	* LastStand: [[spoiler: Rear Admiral Vaina and the ''Sacred War'' do this, overclocking their particle cannon to hold off TSAB ships and allow the Deep Space Fleet to retreat.]]
49	* LethalHarmlessPowers: Brute using his barriers as blades.
50	* LifeImitatesArt: InUniverse. At the end of chapter 19, [[spoiler:Admiral Lokan shoots the DRA's president and organises a coup to call for his country to lay down their arms, which Field Marshall Parker recognises as eerily similar to an Earth book he read - namely ''Literature/RedStormRising''.]]
51	* MacrossMissileMassacre: The DRA starships manage to fire off over 27,000 nuclear warheads in the first space battle.
52	* MagneticWeapons: DRA starships mount coil and railguns.
53	* MeaningfulFuneral: Given by the DRA to [[spoiler: Rear Admiral Vaina and the ''Sacred War'''s crew.]]
54	* MirrorMatch: Averted. While Dragon the bombardier does go up against Nanoha, ShockAndAwe kinfe expert Shank goes up not against Cinque or Fate but Vita, ColdSniper Hawkeye faces Fate rather than Vice and MoreDakka BarrierWarrior Brute has to settle for Signum rather than Yuuno, Arf or Zafira. On that note, Dragon is technically a fire mage and should probably have gone against Signum.
55	* MoodWhiplash: At one point, Hayate segues from a serious discussion on the DRA and the war into teasing Nanoha about her relationship with Fate.
56	%%* MoralMyopia: The DRA has this.
57	* NotQuiteFlight: Brute jumps from barrier to barrier as a substitute for flight.
58	* NuclearOption: DRA starships spam magic-enhanced nukes.
59	* NukeEm: [[spoiler: Near the end, the DRA employs tactical nukes. Comes complete with a noting of how in-atmosphere nuke employment differs from starship-to-starship nuking.]]
60	* PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny: The DRA.
61	* PhantomZone: It is specifically mentioned that the DRA's citizens get inoculations that introduce enough magic into their bodies that the TSAB can't simply use this to sieve out civilians and make the war easier.
62	%%* PunchClockVillain: Most of the DRA's grunts.
63	* RazorFloss: At one point, a [[Manga/{{Hellsing}} Walter Dornez]] {{Expy}} stonewalls a DRA advance until the Assault Troopers arrive.
64	* SeeTheWhitesOfTheirEyes: Invoked. In the first space battle, the TSAB fleet CO orders his vessels to get into the DRA wall of battle, where the Bureau starships' individual superiority can seize the day, rather than being mowed down from afar by DRA MoreDakka.
65	%%* ShootTheBullet: Nanoha does this with Divine Shooters. [[spoiler: The ''Sacred War'' does this with its particle cannon against TSAB Arc-en-Ciels during its LastStand.]]
66	* ShoutOut:
67	** The DRA ships [[VideoGame/AceCombat Razgriz]], [[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno, Dante, Virgil]], [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Za Warudo]], [[Music/{{Metallica}} Master of Puppets]], [[Film/TheWickerMan1973 Wicker Man]] and [[Film/RockyIII Eye of the Tiger]].
68	** [[VideoGame/BioShock1 "Would you kindly...?"]]
69	** DRA fighter squadrons [[Literature/XWingSeries Wraith]] and [[VideoGame/AceCombat Mobius]], as well as [[VideoGame/AceCombat AWACS Eagle Eye]].
70	** The [[BloodKnight battle-crazed]] tank commander [[Manga/{{Hellsing}} "Major" Max.]]
71	* ShowyInvincibleHero: Inverted. The author has admitted that the TSAB will win and the DRA will lose; the question is how badly will the DRA make the Bureau bleed to get that victory?
72	* SpaceFighter: In going with the "Nanoha is a human Gundam" idea, mages are used as these.
73	* SpaceIsNoisy: Averted, complete with obligatory "[[Film/{{Alien}} no one could hear you scream]]".
74	* SuperReflexes: [[spoiler: Smiley takes a concoction to get these in his second and final run-in with Fate.]]
75	* TakeThat: Averted with [[Fanfic/TiberiumWars Pvt. Marona]] and [[Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion 2LT Mari Shikinami]], who the author has stated were coincidences and no malice aforethought went into making them redshirts.
76	* TechnologyPorn: Sometimes to self-indulgent extents.
77	* VeteranInstructor: Field Marshall Parker briefly considers making Smiley this before sending him to the XHMF programme.
78	* VillainProtagonist: While the action switches between many viewpoints on both sides, the one that receives the most attention is the DRA grunt squad led by Lieutenant Rakas and Sergeant Hennessey.
79	%%* VillainousValour
80	%%* WarFic: ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
81	%%* WarIsHell: Not really a focus, but it's there.
82	* WaveMotionGun: Arc-en-Ciels up the wazoo. Then there's the [[spoiler: Self-Propelled Weapons Platform ''Sacred War'', which is essentially a mobile particle cannon capable of hitting targets from a light-second out and is used against Mid-Childa itself for millions of casualties. Nanoha uses a Starlight Breaker to blow through a mountain to reach Field Marshall Parker's command post.]]
83	* WeHaveReserves: One DRA POW is told that the TSAB can win by virtue of sheer numbers if it has to.
84	* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Assault Troopers are meant to fight in the dark and die unknown. [[spoiler: Brute is very disheartened to be his squad's sole survivor and a POW, being both magically and physically restrained from suicide to deny himself to the TSAB.]]
85	%%* WorthyOpponent: Brute sees Signum as this.
86	%%* WouldNotHitAGirl: Brute subverts this, saying that he would rather not but needs to make an exception for Signum.
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Context Fanfic / TheTSABActurusWar