I had the pleasure of knowing the famed General Belgen Archibald Gunther during his time at the academy. He was always the stern, unrelenting man even during basic and officer training. That man had an eye for tactics, showed up everyone in the class from foreign students to Howard Damon. I never did peg him for a military man when we were children though, always running around the woods in search of some rare animal or insect, or otherwise annoying his future wife Marie.
Belgen's death was a great loss, and the fact that Damon replaced him sort of sealed the regular army's decline into complacency. In the end, I suppose it doesn't matter what I think. I never did finish my old rivalry with him, just like the man to up and let illness stop him so we wouldn't ever settle the score.
We ended up on opposing sides of the war, a young captain fresh out of West Point and a lieutenant out of the Royal University. I remember that day at Naggiar. We had every advantage, but that damned blue and silver flag showed up on our flank, crushed our formation and turned our victory into an absolute rout.
Got him back a few months later, broke his squad during the siege of Paris, forced their retreat. Ever since then, we've consistently found ourselves on opposing positions during the first great war. I can honestly say I'll miss the man, the world's poorer without minds like his.
Interview with Andreas Darlton, On the Gallian Front, 2060
"You know, you really should stop goading Michael," Faldio chided, "His dad's got enough political clout to get you expelled or deported." Thalia glanced to where the brown-haired boy was lazily leaning against her.
Simmering after her latest run-in with the self-proclaimed god's gift to humanity, Michael Summers, Thalia was sitting under the shade of a particularly shady oak on the university's grounds. "Try both. He actually expects me to go out with him just because he's a duke's son. Doesn't make him any less of a strutting peacock."
"Don't compare him to a peacock." Welkin pleaded. "Peacocks are magnificent creatures, but it's not like he has any competition so it isn't a good analogy."
"Are you saying I'm not worth competing over?" Thalia asked sweetly.
"Huh? No. I'm just saying that he's just making a fool of himself. You aren't one to get starry-eyed at nobility." Welkin amended, putting his hands up in a placating gesture.
Faldio laughed. "Considering who her parents are, it isn't really surprising. Year and a half and I still can't believe that someone like you is royalty."
"Former. It's not like that little hobgoblin wanted to keep any of the old family around." Thalia replied, glaring at him now. "I'm not taking that from the earl's son that likes scrounging about for dirty chips of pottery."
Both young men laughed at her comment. There really was no loving the diminutive emperor, considering his policies of discrimination were reaching an all-time high, there was little surprise that nobody favored the current emperor's rule.
"Which reminds me, you're returning home to Bruhl next week, aren't you?" Faldio asked, breaking their comfortable silence. "I'm heading to Barious to start on my dissertation, where will you be going for your research, Thalia?"
Looking thoughtful, Thalia shrugged. "Truth is, I can do my research anywhere, but I'm interested in seeing the sights of Gallia. I haven't actually left the capital except to go to the airport and that fieldtrip we had to Kloden last month. I'd like to see Bruhl's famous windmill though."
"It's settled then, we can take the first train on Monday and be at my place by around lunchtime."
"Propositioning already? Didn't you already have that sweetheart of yours, also happens to be from Bruhl." Thalia remarked dryly. "I don't mind though, waking up early isn't really much trouble."
"Oh right, that baker's girl. Alice, wasn't it?" Faldio asked.
"Alicia, but I haven't seen her in years. She's probably forgotten all about me by now." Welkin shrugged.
First to rise, Thalia brushed the grass from her skirt. "I'm going to go get lunch, either of you gentlemen want to escort me?" Thalia pulled her bag from the ground and dusted it off as well. "Which reminds me, Gunther, you still owe me for helping you with that history project of yours."
Welkin boosted himself up and followed. "Yeah, but I thought that favor was for schoolwork, not food money."
"Didn't ask for terms, you can't complain." Thalia replied in a sing-song tone. "There's that new pasta place along Castle street I wanted to try."
"It's a date then." Welkin remarked, causing Thalia to smirk, though a light dusting of red covered her cheeks.
"Better you than the peacock." Thalia agreed, dragging Welkin along as Faldio watched them leave.
"Hey, what did we just talk about?"
"You invited me for lunch, that's a date. Now you are competition, isn't that fabulous." Thalia said, grinning.
Welkin shook his head. "You were the one who called in the favor."
"Details."
As the two conversed back-and-forth, Faldio shook his head and turned to return to his own quarters. There was still his trip to the ruins to plan. Life was good.
Thalia was taking pictures of the town as Welkin sketched nearby. "Don't you have to return home? I'm sure Isara is worried about you." Thalia remarked, checking the image before continuing. Inwardly, she thought that someone would inevitably react the wrong way, with her father's warning that the Russians were close to invading and declaring war on Gallia.
"But it's so early for the trout to be here, it's remarkable." Welkin protested, continuing his sketch.
"Is she really going to forgive you for being late because you were sketching trouts?"
Looking thoughtful for a moment, Welkin nodded. "She's always been a very forgiving person."
Groaning, Thalia shook her head and went back to taking pictures of the surroundings before she noticed the three men with rifles heading their way. "Uhh, Welkin, I think we have company." She cautioned, nudging the young nature lover to facing the men with the uniform of the town's militia. "Can we help you, officers?" she asked.
Holding up a hand, one of the men stepped forward, motioning the other two to stand ready. "You are both suspected of being spies, come quietly or we will be forced to fire." He said, the two behind him shouldering their rifles.
"Fuck." Thalia grumbled, glaring at Welkin. "Sir, I can assure you there's a very good explanation for our presence and actions. Hey, idiot, mind helping me out here." However, upon glancing, Welkin was still sketching. This man may have the highest grades in our year, but he's really a complete and utter idiot, she groaned.
"I'm sure it will have been a very well-rehearsed story." Welkin said thoughtfully. "If we were spies I mean, we'd have cover stories."
"You. Are. Not. Helping." Thalia groused as the guards approached.
The lead guard slung his rifle over his shoulder. "Hand over your camera and bag. We can discuss this at the station."
"Thanks a lot, fish." Thalia sighed.
One of the guards hauled Welkin to his feet and took the notebook from him, prompting Welkin to freak out. "Please, the ink isn't dry, you might smudge the sketches." He protested.
Groaning, Thalia put a hand to her head. "Sir, he's too much of an airhead to be a spy, we're on our way to visit his family."
"There's only one house at the end of the road, and there's no way he's family." One of the guards said. "Besides, if you had family waiting, you wouldn't be around sketching."
"That's what I've been trying to tell him." Thalia turned to Welkin, who appeared to be quite thoughtful at the trees. "Welkin! Hey! We're about to be arrested here. Do something."
Welkin shrugged. "They aren't going to believe a word either of us say."
"It's your fault you wanted to stop by and sketch the fish."
"Both of you, shut up." The lead militiaman said.
In silence, they trudged down the road until they arrived at a rather old house with the Gallian flag raised above in the courtyard, the massive mill spinning lazily in the breeze. "Not how I imagined seeing the mill up close."
A rather cramped room had become their temporary cell, hands bound behind their chairs. "A little inappropriate don't you think?" Thalia quipped. The older man's replacement, a boy probably no older than fifteen, flushed as Thalia struggled, the motion drawing attention to her chest.
Inwardly, Thalia had to sigh, all men were predictable. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Welkin shake his head in something between disappointment and amusement, also having been the subject of Thalia's 'charm'.
"Err, no. Well, we're supposed to keep you in this room." The boy said hesitantly, his eyes never leaving her chest.
"What's your name?" Thalia asked.
"O-Os~"
"Oscar! What are you doing here?" one of the older militia was shouting, snapping the boy from his daze.
Spinning so fast, Thalia swore she saw an afterimage, the boy tripped on his own feet, still babbling incoherently. "Give the kid a break," Thalia said in mock disappointment at her source of entertainment's removal.
"You, shut up." The militiaman barked. "You. Come with us." He said, nodding to Welkin.
"Exactly what am I going to do with you?" Alicia huffed, the brunette fussing over Welkin as she untied his arms. "No calls, no letters, no nothing for two years while you're off at university and the first thing I have to do is pull your ass out of a cell?"
Welkin, looking properly apologetic, was rubbing the back of his head from where his best friend had smacked him with his journal. "Sorry, it's just, the trout were early this year."
Raising an eyebrow, Alicia sighed. "Well, regardless. It's nice to see you again." Shaking her head, she punched him in the shoulder, "that's for making me worry," tiptoeing and pecking him on the lips. "That's for making me worry, you stupid fool."
Looking thoroughly shocked, Welkin momentarily lost all sense of urgency and stood there. "I don't suppose you were expecting that," she said sheepishly.
"Not one bit." Welkin agreed.
Given the fact that most of the town had been evacuated, nobody else noticed the two's brief show of affection. At least until a shrill whistle startled the pair into watching a figure clamber down the second floor of a building. "Nice going, nature boy."
"Thalia? I thought they left you at the base?" Welkin remarked, surprised.
Glaring at him, the shortest of the three huffed, cocking her hip. "Yeah, thanks for that by the way. This pretty thing must be Alicia. Welkin's said quite a bit about you."
Blushing, the woman spun and jabbed a finger at Welkin. "I thought you said that there wasn't anyone in your life!" she accused.
"Nah, she's just a friend." Welkin promised, seeing Thalia's knowing smirk.
"As much fun as he is to be around and tease, he's too weird for my tastes." Thalia promised.
"Tell me about it." Alicia agreed. "Wait, how did you get here?"
Chuckling, Thalia struck a pose. "Distracted that boy. Oscar, was it?" Thalia mimed some pretty suggestive poses that left Welkin gaping and Alicia blushing deeper. "Lured him in, he lowered his guard, and I took the keys." She explained.
The road soon turned and the trio continued in a comfortable silence. "It's hard to believe with all the modernization going on, there's still places like Bruhl that still exists. It's nice," Thalia admitted, "the air's clean and crisp, and the loudest sound isn't construction or advertisments."
As if on cue, an explosion shattered the amicable silence and Thalia quickly tackled Alicia and Welkin to the ground. "That was explosive ordinance, then that means . . ."
"The invasion's starting. Damn, I thought we had more time." Alicia cursed, fumbling for her pistol as Thalia withdrew her own. Checking her clip, the two girls crouched low as the sound of boots and the rumble of vehicles passed them by.
"How far to the house?" Thalia asked.
Thinking for a moment, Welkin grimaced. "Maybe ten minutes if we weren't under fire. Now, we'd be lucky to get there at all."
Looking to Alicia, Thalia peeked over the low bush. "Three, no, five foot soldiers and a light tank. Must be a recon team. Old-fashioned visors and grey to khaki uniforms, it's the Russian infantry, no doubt about it."
"Think we could take them?" Alicia queried, peering over to where the open-topped vehicle was sweeping its mounted gun over the landscape. "Apart from the vehicle, their infantry's infamous for being poorly trained.
"I'd chalk that up to misinformation." Welkin said, finally pulling out his own pistol. "Underestimated enemies are just as dangerous as well-trained enemies."
Thalia smiled. "Send me a bumper sticker," however that smile quickly turned into a frown as her phone began to receive the telltale signs of jamming before quickly shutting itself off without so much as the zero-battery screen. "They've got a jamming system on the jeep, guaranteed gefjun disturber."
Frowning, Welkin shook his head. "A lot of Gallian weapons have Sakuradite in them, only the older tanks and guns from the first war still use propellant. We don't have any way of fighting the Russians until we neutralize the disturber."
Visibly pale, Alicia checked her own pistol, a newer model distributed only recently to Gallia's various militia divisions. True to Welkin and Thalia's observations, the trigger had stuck and the light and sensors were off, indicating the weapon's use as a bludgeoning tool and not a ranged weapon. "Well, that's just great, is that their plan?"
"Park one next to a power plant, it shuts down electricity. Put it onto a vehicle, it creates a dead zone around it that causes anything from scanners and guns to knightmares and airships to shut down. It's brought everything full circle, rendered Sakuradite useless for combat purposes. Sad really," Thalia said.
"They're moving towards the town," Welkin pointed out. "We need to keep going, your militia is going to have to hold them off."
Torn between her friends and her duty, Alicia pulled Welkin into another kiss. "Then you'd better hurry back to me and the town. Get Is and Al then help us stop that stupid tank, we're . . . I'm counting on you," she said quietly, turning to run back down the path.
"What now Welkin?" Thalia asked her friend who was still watching as Alicia disappeared around the corner.
"We'd better hurry."
Humming a tune as she lay on her back inspecting several components of her father and his good friend's work, Isara Gunther found that her brother was late, figures. "Still I'll come back to you, to the home within my heart," Isara sang absently, soldering the wiring that had become faulty since she'd last done a checkup on its legs. "Alex, could you hand me the magnification visor and the micro-tools."
"Sure thing," came the reply as tools were placed in her outstretched hand. "Why are you still working on that old thing?"
"It's the last thing our fathers built together, I'd like to have something to do, since school's out for the . . . for the war and everything." Isara admitted. "Besides, you know how I get around technology."
"Gearhead," came the teasing tone.
"Lazy bum," Isara remarked, donning the visor and returning to her prone position under the tarp. The sound of footsteps roused her from her oil and grease induced trance and she heard the harsh barking of Russian as she retrieved an old revolver from a shelf.
Unbeknownst to her, the jamming device didn't work on such an old weapon, the soldier before her laughing and making a show of raising his arms as if to dare her to shoot. A single report of the revolver's large caliber round smashing into the resin helmet sent shards backwards and the gun kicking with its recoil. "Is . . . you killed him."
"He was acting weird." Isara noted, keeping the fact she'd just killed a man at the back of her mind and noted the visor had switched off. "Jammed," she muttered, raising the visor to cover her hair.
That's when the door to the side opened, and an older girl followed a brown-haired boy through. "Isara! What happened?"
"Brother!" Isara exclaimed, about to speak but instead throwing up her breakfast at the knowledge of her act.
"Is!" Welkin and Alex shouted as Thalia pried the revolver from her grasp.
"We need to get out of here," Thalia said. "What were you talking about was here?"
Isara, still looking decidedly pale, aided by Alex and Welkin, pulled the tarp from the mound. "What is it?" Welkin asked.
Isara put a hand to the machine that stood roughly one and a half times taller than a Sutherland, that looked far bulkier than an ordinary knightmare. "Uncle Lloyd explained it to me, the Advanced Systems Group was founded in order to circumvent the lopsided tactical advantage of the gefjun disturber. Using crude nuclear and some advanced physics theories, they created a refined variant of the original arc reactor. This is model zero seven one, code named Dantalion."
"This will work through a gefjun disturber?" Thalia asked. Isara's nod was all Thalia needed. "I have the training to pilot experimental knightmare frames, I can do this."
Welkin nodded. "We'll do a meet-and-greet later. Alex, Is, we'll follow behind Thalia. Clear us a path and we'll get out of here." Welkin said, picking up the dead man's rifle and passing his sidearm to Alex.
Inside the cockpit, Thalia ran the startup sequence and despite their situation, had to marvel at the Dantalion's specs. "Power output normal, reactor cooling at full. Primary weapons online, secondary systems all green. Redirecting all tertiary systems and closing the engine block. Welkin, I need someone to operate the Dantalion's secondary systems. Is it too~"
"I'll do it," Isara volunteered. "I don't really trust you, but if my brother does, then I'll help."
Slipping in behind Thalia, the dark-haired girl booted up the console. "Just like I practiced," Isara muttered to herself as she began pulling system feeds and nodded. "All secondary systems green, locomotive systems enabled, detaching magnetic clamps, fuel cables and sealing the coolant reservoir."
"Alright. Thalia, Is, our objective is to get out of here, destroy the gefjun disturber and rescue the remaining civilians in Bruhl."
"Aye aye, general." Thalia quipped. "All systems green. Dantalion on standby."
Saying a silent prayer, Isara thumbed the activation switches. "Dantalion ready for combat."
The gunmetal grey and black machine rose from its prone position to a crouch. "Isara, ready the low-yield rounds, we're going to blast our way through the blockade. Sensors read enemy armor and a squad. Think we can do this?"
"Of course." Isara said, monitoring the screens as the whine of the railgun charging. "Ready to fire."
"FIRE!"
Hello,
I am so terribly sorry this took a long while. Mother insisted on visiting the distant relations in the Philippines, map apps are completely useless outside of Manila apparently, it led us through every single side road in existence for what we dubbed the "scenic route". They're remarkably friendly though, the people I mean. Food's great here, but the roads are so confusing.
Listen to me going on about stuff you guys might not care about, ah well, too lazy to edit this little note so I'll just continue. There you guys have it, the beginning of the Gallia-Russia war with the invasion of Bruhl. Sorry this is a bit of a confusing chapter, but it's really just a build up to the battle and the introduction of some other characters. More about them later, but yes Is = Isara and Al = Alex. Fight's kicking off with a bang and Dantalion is ready to roll. Think of Dantalion less of a knightmare and more of a walking tank.
Really sorry, I'm nervous on how this chapter turned out, but the muse refuses to help me fix it so I'll just have to keep going. It's going to be a lot better from here on out, I promise.
Stand and Deliver,
Arilia
