In war and more so in the apocalypse, life has a strange way of interrupting or even ruining the best laid plans, plans of which were laid down by one man, to restore law and order to the commonwealth will become a tad more... Difficult beyond the imagining of the Sole Survivor, a man who fled from one continent to keep out of a war and ended up finding himself in another, then a hell unimaginable. However he will not go it alone, he and those closest to him in the wasteland that is The Commonwealth will find or quite possibly have those forced upon him or his friends and those he considers family, people from a universe where past history had gone... A different way.

Characters to be used from Muvluv and it's side stories include the following

Pham Thi Ran - Muv-luv: Schwarzesmarken 1983

Lise Hohenstein - Muv-luv: Schwarzesmarken 1983

Sylwia Krzasińska - Muv-luv: Schwarzesmarken 1983

Beatrix Brehme - Muv-luv: Schwarzesmarken 1983

Fikatsia Latrova - Muv-luv Alternative: Total Eclipse

Kai Shimako - Muv-luv Alternative: Total Eclipse

Yamashiro Kazusa - Muv-luv Alternative: Total Eclipse

Kyoko Takatsukasa - Muv-luv Alternative: Total Eclipse

Jinguuji Marimo - Muv-luv Alternative

Kashiwagi Haruko - Muv-luv Alternative

Isumi Michiru - Muv-luv Alternative

Suzumiya Haruka - Muv-luv Alternative

Sakaki Chizuru - Muv-luv Alternative

Ayamine Kei - Muv-luv Alternative

Meiya Mitsurugi - Muv-luv Alternative

Daryl A. McManus - Muv-Luv Unlimited: The Day After

Mana Tsukuyomi - Muv-luv Alternative

Misae Munakata - Muv-luv Alternative

And now let's let the story begin...

29th of August, 2289. Boston, The Commonwealth.

"Christ. You ever think these dickless idiots ever have a spark of genius? ...Not meaning for example... "Hey, let's go attack that old fort, there's bound to be some good shit in that place.", and possibly consider that maybe, just maybe for a second, that whomever occupies this place probably is armed to the teeth with more than just pipe rifles or knives or some other shit." Harry said watching through his binoculars, his Lee-Enfield No.4 MK.I slung over his shoulder. Preston standing next to him. "I don't know, General. Smarts might not be their speciality, considering they've attacked maybe five or ten times now."

"You might be right, Preston." Harry lowered his binoculars after a Mini nuke dropped on a group of raiders hiding behind a trailer watching pieces of them fly off into the immediate area. "Huh. That was... A bit more entertaining than I thought it would be." Harry remarked before unslinging his rifle and sitting down in his chair on the western wall of "The Castle". Harry was the "General" of the Minutemen, a charge he found himself in after unthawing from a Cryo Pod in Vault 111. "Honestly, why do you find that entertaining?" Preston asked looking to Harry of whom shrugged. "I guess it has something to do with the balance of the universe. Think of it like this, we do good by the world trying to protect all we can."

"Yeah... But..." Harry stood up taking his Lee-Enfield, shouldering it he chambered a round quickly. "General, what are you?" A raider started screaming while he crawled out from behind the trailer the mini nuke landed behind. "Shh. Don't speak." Harry pulled the trigger on his rifle and a second later, the screaming stopped. "Ah, and all is right with the universe." Harry smiled working the action on his rifle while the spent round fell onto the floor. "What do you mean by universal balance, General?" Preston asked before setting his Laser Musket by the butt of the stock on the floor holding it at the handguard.

"Universal balance, you know, karma? Shit like that." Harry said before slinging his rifle over his shoulder, taking a cigarette out of his pocket, lighting it. "Right... So, pretty much that old pre-war stuff about if you do good to the world then good will come back to you?" Preston asked looking out to the fields of bodies in front of the castle. "Pre-war stuff? That "stuff" still applies, you know like don't stand in fire or any of that other shit... Anyway I have that feeling something good will be coming out way. The universe works in strange ways. I mean let's look at it like this. Remember last week we found that crashed UFO and that alien pistol?."

"Yeah but didn't we murder that alien?" Preston pushed the brim of his hat back remembering the pistol. "It's not murder if it's self defence. Besides he did attack first. It doesn't matter if anyone knows either... Not like they'd believe us. We're all so quick to believe whatever explanation there is for Ghouls, Deathclaws, Radroaches, Mole Rats but we apparently draw the line at little green men from space.. ...Anyway I'll be heading out for now, if anything comes up you know how to reach me."

Harry stood up and slung his rifle over his shoulder before leaving the castle taking the ammunition he could find off the dead bodies from the raiders continuing on his way out of the city. Harry himself, in addition to being the General of the Minutemen, back in his previous life, back before the bombs fell was a Southern Rhodesian immigrant from Europe, fleeing the fighting as the European Commonwealth and colonies of the old Empires and nations fell apart, old prejudices arose during the resource wars and the continents fell apart...

Portuguese fighting Spanish, Spanish fighting French, French fighting Belgians, Belgians fighting Netherlanders, Netherlanders fighting West Germans, West Germans fighting East Germans, East Germans fighting Poles, Poles fighting Czechs, Czechs fighting Slovaks, Slovaks fighting Hungarians, Hungarians fighting Austrians, Austrians fighting Italians.. So on so forth. It was a war he had no interest in fighting... Only he did end up fighting in another war, it wasn't another European war though, it was America and China head to head in Alaska over the last drops of oil on the planet. And once again he's found himself fighting once again, for survival... But little would he know he'd also be fighting for the survival of others, not from this hell that is the Commonwealth.

15th of December, 1983, East Germany

Pham Thi Lan opened her eyes, the light in her cell turned on and the door slammed open. She raised her arm shielding her eyes from the light to see a figure in the doorway it was someone she was close to, Theodor Eberbach. "Pham! Are you alright?!" Theodor rushed in with a blanket and quickly draped it over Pham's shoulders, Pham smiled and looked up to Theo holding her right hand over his while it was on her left shoulder. "I'm alright, thank you Theo."

Theo gently pulled Pham up to her feet pulling her arm up over his shoulder, Pham bit her bottom lip wincing in pain, her arms, legs, upper body, and face were covered in marks and bruises. "We need to get everyone out of here as quickly as is possible, have you seen Irisdina?" Theo asked while he helped Pham out of the room and down the hallway. "No, I'm so sorry. I haven't seen her, we've all been kept separate from each other." Theo nodded his head while he brought Pham out to the hanger, outside was a helicopter where the wounded and everyone in the 666th East German TSF battalion that was recovered from the base were being loaded up. "Here, rest here Pham."

Theo set Pham down by the hanger doors before being yelled for by Suzy, a member of the resistance in East Germany, they arose before the Stasi takeover of the country and only recently gained support from the NVA for their fight against the Stasi. Theo rushed off to Suzy of whom ordered him back to his TSF, Pham sat there by herself, looking over to her right she noticed a RPG propped up right next to the wall and just within a few minutes, Theo's adopted sister, Lise Hohenstein and a few of her comrades from the Stasi showed up in their MiG-23 TSFs and began fighting with Theo, and a couple other members of the 666th of whom were in their TSFs.

The few Stasi TSFs that did accompany Lise were quickly destroyed by Theo, Lise was all that remained, Pham overheard the arguing between Lise and Theo, she insisted that he surrender and perhaps they could finally leave the country and be together. Pham herself didn't know what to think of that... But she quickly made a decision that she knew could possibly backfire on her, but could also make Lise listen...

Pham grabbed the RPG-7 and quickly ran out of the hanger taking a knee, she aimed in on Lise of whom had her back to the hanger firing her rocket at Lise she got a direct hit on the shoulder of Lise's TSF. "Lise! You should listen to your Brother! Stop this foolishness! Please!" Lise wasn't of course happy with having a rocket fired at her and so she turned around aiming her assault canon at Pham. "Get lost!" Lise yelled before firing two rounds at Pham... They would leave a direct hit on the ground right where Pham was but Pham herself had disappeared, no sign of a body or any bits or pieces... Though things weren't as they were perceived by Theo or Lise.

Pham of whom held her eyes closed ready for the inevitable round that was to come flying to her opened her eyes after a few moments... Nothing? She looked around to find herself surrounded by a completely different setting... She wasn't just outside of a hanger in East Germany, she was in the middle of a street, with rubble strewn up and down the street, large rusted metal girders... Where was she?

29th of August, 2289. Boston, The Commonwealth.

Pham stood up and looked around, she still had the RPG in her hands but now it was just a useless heavy metal tube. "Where in the world...?" She looked around once again this time making out a sign nearby of which had written out on it. "Diamond City ahead." She looked at the sign and immediately just after she started to hear gunfire right behind her. "Okay it's not a good idea to be out here like this... Diamond City it is then." Pham held the tube as if it were a baseball bat of sorts and began running as fast as she could, something didn't sit right with her though, how did she end up from East Germany in the middle of winter to... Wherever she was currently in late summer?

It didn't matter, she'd figure that out when she got to safety, and Diamond City sounded a lot safer than remaining where she was. Just as she began running her thoughts got the best of her because she already found herself at the to what she could tell, entrance of Diamond City, it was as she had rightfully judged. It was safer, but there were a few machines she'd never seen before, such as strange looking machines with machine guns built into them, she couldn't help but wonder what that was about... But either way she'd have to put that on hold.

Pham's attention was turned from the turrets to a woman yelling through an intercom. "Damnit Danny! Open this door! You can't just lock me out! I live here! Open up!" Pham smiled nervously and slung the RPG tube over her shoulder before tapping the woman's shoulder. "Uhm... Is everything alright?"

"Oh jesus!" Piper quickly turned around as soon as her shoulder was tapped, she held her fists up ready for a fight only to see an odd looking woman with an even stranger weapon slung over her shoulder. "Uh hey, sorry, just dealing with a small issue... Uh... Actually you know what..." Piper lowered her voice and motioned for Pham to come closer, of which she did. "Here, follow my lead." Piper stood back a devious smile donned on her face. "Huh? What's that? You're just in from Sanctuary huh? You've got some goods to keep the General store stocked huh? ...Hear that Danny? So you gonna let her in or are you going to end up having to explain to Irma why you decided to pass on all these supplies!"

Piper yelled at the intercom to which Danny, of whom was on the other side let out an audible sigh. "Alright, alright, fine... I'm opening up." Piper put her hands in her pockets of her coat and smiled to Pham. "Let's get inside before someone stops Danny, I'm Piper by the way, nice to meet you...?" Piper stopped waiting for Pham to answer.

"Oh, I'm Second Lieu- ...I mean... I'm Pham Thi Lan, it's nice to meet you." Pham smiled adjusting the RPG tube on her shoulder. "Likewise." Piper smiled and turned, walking into the entrance to Diamond City to be greeted by Mayor McDonough... Though "greet" wouldn't be the proper word in this case. "Piper! What are you doing here, I thought I told Sullivan to keep that gate shut and you out!" Piper couldn't help but roll her eyes at the Mayor, she didn't like him and ever so clearly, he didn't like her. "You tried that when blue first got here and it didn't work, how about you just stop trying to shut down the press McDonough! It hasn't worked before so why would you think it would again! ...How about this let's bring another newcomer into this huh? Pham, what do you think? Because the Mayor would throw free press right in the dumpster."

Pham sighed and held her chin. "I honestly wouldn't know anything about the media... I've never been interested in such matters but I would say if my opinion did truly matter then it would be best to keep a free, open press, for as long as they print the unbiased truth that is." Pham smiled crossing her arms looking to McDonough. "If that is what the matter is about then perhaps if what Piper is printing, is indeed the truth... And it's causing you to worry because it has you looking bad."

"Wh-why that's absurd! I don't know but... Ugh... It doesn't matter. Piper, take your friend and get out of my sight before I have the guards toss you, your friend and that trouble making little sister of your out and have that printer scrapped for parts!" McDonough growled and rolled his eyes before turning around walking away. "You know only Blue really stood up to McDonough like that before... Hmm... Well anyway you should come with me alright? I need to talk to you in private okay?" Piper began walking through the gate to the centre of the city and down a set of stairs to her "home", Pham followed behind quietly entering Piper's home. "So what's your story then? You remind me of Blue and the look he had when he first came here, like a fish out of water."

Pham sighed and set the RPG-7 tube down by the door way before sitting down on the couch in the room. "If I began to tell you everything you might think I'm insane." Pham sat back looking down to the floor before her, she didn't even truly believe it herself... One moment she was in East Germany about to be killed by someone she was very close to's sister and now she was... Well she still didn't know where she was. "Uhm... Could I ask one question?" Pham looked to Piper of whom was now on the "second floor"of the building grabbing her notepad and a pencil. "Sure! Go ahead! I mean I am interviewing you!"

Pham nodded and bit her bottom lip weighting the question in her mind, would this person, the first person she's met in this... Wherever she was think her to be crazy if she were to ask or not? Regardless she had to ask. "What year is it and where am I?" Piper immediately stopped what she was doing and went over to the balcony of the second floor leaning on it. "You're in Boston, and the year is 2289. Why do you ask?" Pham almost froze, her usually cheerful face now drained of blood and instead disbelief was quite visible to anyone of whom would have seen it, 2289? 300 and some years into the future? In America? A number of questions started to fill her mind, what happened to the BETA? How did she end up in North America? What happened to cause all this destruction?

"T-That can't be! I was just in 1983, in East Germany! W-what happened with the BETA, what happened to East Germany!? ..Theo..." Pham looked down to the floor before her once again and once single question out of everything else arose. Why? Why was she here? "P-Piper can you please help me?! I need to know what happened!" Pham started to yell, tears welled up in her eyes. "Hey, hey, hey!" Piper came rushing down the stairs with her pencil and notepad in hand putting them down on the table infront of the couch on which Pham sat and hugged her. "It's okay, it's okay..." Pham closed her eyes and hugged Piper tightly while tears rolled down her cheeks. "Pham... Calm down, don't worry, we can figure this out. We'll talk to Nick and Blue. They ought to know what happened... Or failing that, maybe Curie, if she's still at the Castle, same with Blue."

Pham looked to Piper hugging her tightly, she opened her eyes and soon let go of Piper before drying her eyes. "T-Thank you Piper..." Pham sat back in the couch holding her forehead while Piper stood up. "So uhm. ... Look, you get some rest okay?" Piper smiled and Pham nodded her head before laying back on the couch, closing her eyes. The entire ordeal was indeed exhausting... Perhaps some rest was best...

After a few hours of catching some sleep, Pham woke up and sat up looking around, she did see Piper but... There was someone with her at the door, or more fittingly as she didn't actually know "something". Taking an opportunity to stretch for a moment she got up and joined Piper at the door, cautious of the unknown to her being, she overheard part of the conversation taking place. "She said something about 1983, East Germany and some sort of thing called the BETA, I don't know why... She seemed upset about it. And someone named Theo." The person with Piper at the door reached into his coat and pullet out a cigarette lighting it up and taking a long drag from it. It was Nick Valentine, the detective Piper talked about before Pham went to sleep.

"Well I remember before the war, in Europe there was a country called East Germany which almost unified with West Germany in the 1980s.. But uh other than that I don't know anything about any sort of BETA or anyone named Theo.." Nick looked past Piper and smiled though Pham didn't know what to make of it, he certainly to a degree looked human but also looked like... Something else entirely. "Uhm.. Hello. Piper, who is this?" Pham asked with an eyebrow raised, looking to Piper then Nick. Piper quickly turned around and smiled. "Oh hey Pham, this is Nick. I mentioned him earlier before you went to sleep." Pham looked to Nick and smiled. "Thank you for coming then."

"No problem, any friend of Piper's is a friend of mine. How about both of you come with me back to my office, we can talk more there or if you want then we can talk here." Nick said while he looked to Piper then Pham. "Well it's up to Pham, I don't mind either." Piper then looked to Pham, smiling. Pham then shrugged her shoulders. "It doesn't matter to me. I'd be happy to go back to your office if you'd want." Nick gave Pham a nod and motioned for the two to follow him, of which they did, walking through Diamond City, past the noodle stand and back to Nick's office behind the market.

Entering the office, Nick waited for Piper and Pham to enter before he shut the door and let Pham take a seat infront of his desk, afterwards he took a seat and Ellie took notice of the group coming in. "Another case Mister Valentine?" Ellie asked tow which Nick replied. "Yeah, seems like our new friend here need some help with assessing her situation." Nick then looked to Pham and smiled. "So... Why don't you start from the beginning then. Don't hold anything back, every detail could be important." Pham sighed and looked to Piper of whom gave her a thumbs up, then Pham looked back to Nick, noticing Ellie standing behind him with a pad and pen. "Alright... But I'm sure it'll sound crazy. ...My name is Pham Thi Ran. I am or... Well I suppose I was a Second Lieutenant in the East German, National People's Air force. I was a TSF pilot in the 666th TSF Squadron.." Nick cut Pham off and started to ask some questions of his own. "East German huh.. The air force of the NPA. So and pardon me for interrupting.. But what does a TSF pilot do?"

Nick asked, he never heard of a "TSF pilot" or well much of anything else to do with East Germany except that it was a country in Europe aligned with the Warsaw Pact from before the war. "Well. A TSF pilot, pilots a bi-pedal mech called a Tactical Surface Fighter, I'd think you'd know about them since they were first invented by America to combat the BETA." Pham replied, an eyebrow raised. In truth.. Nick never heard of such a thing, though he did hear of some rumours that the Brotherhood of Steel some time ago back in the Capital Wasteland had a large robot that shot lasers out of it's eyes and threw atomic bombs like footballs.

"So what does a Tactical Surface Fighter do anyway? ...Actually.. You'd not probably want to bother with trying to explain it to me. You'd be better off trying to explain it to one of those Brotherhood of Steel scribes out by the airport. ...Sounds like something they'd be interested in. ..But anyway you also mentioned something called BETA, what is a BETA?" Nick asked while Ellie was jotting everything down audibly behind Nick. "A BETA is a Being of Extraterrestrial origin Adversary to the Human Race. In the 1950s we first encountered them via a probe sent to Mars by the United States, at first many believed it was just a glitch with the probe... Then in 1967 after the Americans set up their first.. And last lunar base, first contact was initiated between Humanity and the BETA. However they weren't interested in speaking, they attacked the researchers on the moon, eating them.. America sent up precursors to the TSF, to fight the BETA but it was all in vain.. Then in 1973 the BETA landed in Kashgar, in Western China and from there they began expanding, there was a hive in Canada at one time but the Americans destroyed it while it was in it's infant stages."

"So what happened with the other one then?" Nick asked, leaning forward onto his desk, Piper was very visibly somewhat unnerved by the story Pham was telling, Ellie too didn't know what to make of it but kept her cool, looking calm and collected. "The Chinese PLA tried to destroy it but they were already too late, Destroyer-class BETA, Grappler-class BETA, Tank-class BETA... And the last of which had at that point made aircraft redundant... Laser-class BETA were pouring out of the hive. and wiped the force sent to destroy it out. Then the BETA began spreading North, South, West, and East. The Soviets couldn't stop it with all their power and might, and after the hive reached it's estimated 3rd stage, nukes wouldn't cut it. Then America started exporting TSFs, first the F-4 which is what my TSF, the MiG-21 was based on.. To a degree anyway.. Then the BETA reached Europe, steamrolled through the Western Soviet Union to the Polish People's Republic, the Socialist Republic of Romania, Hungary and then the Balkans. Last I had heard before the Stasi detained my unit and I, the Oder-Niesse Line was still holding." Pham stopped when Nick raised his hand as if to signal for her to stop for a moment.

"So.. What you're telling me is that all that happened but.. There's not any record of it in my memory... Alright.. Well what about this Theo you mentioned to Piper?" Nick asked while Piper also looked to Pham some concern was written on her face. With the way Pham reacted to the news that Piper gave her about what year it was, she could see some despair in Pham's eyes, it was of course something she saw before but barely recognised the first time. "Theo... Theodore Eberbach, he's someone that was.. He's important to me." Nick's interest was piqued, so this Theo was someone important to her? A lover perhaps? Or something else. "So would you mind me asking who Theodore Eberbach was? It sounds as if this man was someone more than just what you say."

Pham couldn't help but smile, a light blush developing on her face as a smile donned on her only momentarily despairing face. "Words couldn't describe the feelings I had for him... But I suppose he's not here in this time.. Wherever I am." The smile quickly faded though Pham still tried to remain cheerful. "I had such feelings for him... I almost died because of it." Pham said almost unconsciously, it was only after a moment she realised what she had said, and Nick felt the urge to ask her to elaborate. "You said... You almost died because of it? What happened?" Nick asked while Ellie began to write a little faster and flipped the page on her notepad. "He.. He had a sister. Or well, adopted sister... Lise Hohenstein. She was captured by the Stasi and forced to spy on the Squadron after I was put out of action because of a broken arm... After the Stasi take over, Lise's own squadron of "Werewolves".. Well not her squadron, it belonged to Beatrix Brehme, another member of the Stasi, part of their own TSF forces. She took over our base and had Lise question us... Though not really as much question as torture. Then Theo came and saved me as well as a couple others, then Lise showed up.. She almost blasted him to pieces as well as our old Political Commissar but I prevented it by shooting her TSF with a RPG, she then tried to shoot me. And... I ended up on a street here.."

"So... Allow me to get this straight. You used some sort of RPG to shoot this Lise girl's TSF and she shot back at you? Then you ended up on a street? Near here?" Nick asked while he rubbed the fake skin on his face of which was only part of a majority of "skin" that covered his body, save for the parts of him that weren't covered by the fake skin. "Yes, I apologise if everything I said sounds crazy.. I can't believe the last part of it myself... I can't believe all this is real.." Pham said, sorrow ever present in her voice. "Alright well I think we have enough, I'll do what digging I can but I'm not sure if you've noticed but lines of communication between America and Europe are kind of.. Unusable at this time so information is rather unobtainable from that end, you both can head on home. I'll contact you both when I get some info." Nick said to which Piper smiled.

"Well I guess that's all we can do for now, we'll be waiting. Right Pham?" Piper said while Pham stood up and smiled herself. "Yes. I suppose that's all we can do for now. I hope you find something, detective... I'll be in your debt." Nick smiled and Ellie flipped her note pad closed while Nick stood up and walked around his desk. "Don't worry if there's anything to find, I'll find it. ...But you should know it's been over 200 years since the great war, information about stuff way back when isn't exactly plentiful. Though I'm sure I'll find something at the local library if it's there. ...And I'll try to get in contact with Harry." Piper opened the door and motioned for Pham to get going. "Alright, we'll wait until then, if you see Blue before us, tell him I said hi."

"Don't worry I will. You two just keep out of trouble, don't need you locked out of Diamond City like the last two times... Won't have Harry with you to get back in and not every waster out there's going to jump at the chance to help you for free Piper." Piper waved Nick off as she left his office with Pham, returning to her home. "Thank you, Piper. I'm glad to have gotten all that off my chest..." Pham said before returning to the couch she fell asleep on. "Hey, don't worry that's what friends are for. ...And if you'd want to talk about it more for an article, please tell me. ..It's all I ask for you staying with me." Pham nodded her head and smiled. "Of course."