Esdeath read the mission orders, they were going into a hive of Grimm, the plan was one of war, and it seemed that they were ready for them, that was going to make this difficult and that is what infuriated her, James was planing on using his own army for this, but he called back all the generals for this... too many cooks in the kitchen, as the saying went.

"Esdeath." James voice came bringing her from thought

"I'm sorry, I was preoccupied." Esdeath apologized looking back to James, the other generals looked at her

"Well I'm sure you have some reason for being preoccupied." James said resting his hands on the map table they were all sitting around

"This plan is an absolute clusterfuck, pardon my language, but you called back the best generals to be in charge of a singular army. That is a massive waste of resources and leadership. You can literally send all these people home and I can handle this whole campaign on my own." Esdeath explained earning a sigh from James

"The plan is to place each of you in charge of one or two ships each, I chose each of you because you have such a capacity for leading at that size of a force, it is my reasoning. If you wish to lead the assault than I can accommodate." James explained again Esdeath wanted to point out the colossal military failings he was allowing but she could still work with this annoying situation

"Very well... but that just means extreme amounts of coordination between all of us." Esdeath added leaning forward on the table as well, most of these stupid generals were ignorant yes men, who followed James' orders even if they were generals they were still incapable of acting with free thought.

(o)

Esdeath leaned on the railing of the airship that they were meeting on, James had gone over the plan four times, and each time was dumber than the last, she wanted to say something but every time she did the others would glare at her meaning that they didn't want any alterations to the plan, it was irritation beyond irritating

"Esdeath." James' voice came, again knocking her from thought, putting on a mask of happiness she turned to him

"Yes General?" she asked with a smile

"Thank you, for what you said during the meeting. The others aren't as out spoken as you, and it is annoying. I know that they just nod and say yes, it is annoying because they don't challenge my plans, or ask questions. You do though, which is why I chose you for this. I don't have enough ships for everyone to use one each, there will be an odd ship with two extra leaders. That's why we are going to be in charge of the entire operation." James said earning a raised eyebrow from Esdeath, he stood next to her staring off into the icy tundra that made up all of Atlas

"That is a job for a Generalfeldmarschall." Esdeath reasoned earning a laugh from James

"Has that really been a problem for you?" he laughed "Ever sense you were a child you had been a skilled tactician, this is your chance to prove to me that you are worth a higher rank." James added, Esdeath recognized that this was a way of seeing if she was capable of full leadership, she didn't want to always sit at the far back watching the battles occur, she wanted nothing more than to lead at the front, but if this was what she needed to do to bring herself to a higher level of power than she will do what must be done.

"Very well then." Esdeath said with a smile "I shall do what I can." she agreed earning a smile from James

"Good, I could have handed this on my own, but I wanted to see how you handle this, so you'll be making most of the choices." James added as he leaned on the railing, clearing his throat he spoke again "I know you think that your mom asked me to send you to those failing forts. I know that you think that because she did ask me to give you a dead end job, but if this operation goes off without a hitch then, I will have no reason to leave you doing such missions. We have plenty of hordes of Grimm that need wiping out, and I'm sure you would be more than happy with their destruction."

"You aren't wrong, but I am more interested in this operation, why did you pull so many valuable soldiers back at once?" Esdeath asked earning a hum from James

"One thing that I believe in is that regardless of what rank you are you should still be able to take orders, Generals, Generaloberst, everyone below and above should be able to take and understand orders given to them, this is for that exact purpose, you are one of the few that I know regardless of your rank can take orders and understand them... but I don't think you always follow them." James said, it wasn't practiced like most things he said, it was his genuine thoughts

"If it is a stupid order I will not follow it." Esdeath said earning a chuckle from the man

"See, that is exactly why you are here. Anyone else would have stayed silent or made some nationalistic comment." James commented earning a chuckle from Esdeath it was true, but that is what made it so easy for her to get to such a high membership with the political parties than leaned towards Nationalistic Jingoism, they had no real radical elements yet but given enough time they just might get a few council seats, that would be helpful for her ambition

(o)

almost two weeks had passed sense Esdeath had left, and the army was divided in their opinions of that, The upper officers were upset that she was gone because that gave them more work, but that is the only issue they have, the grunts missed eating lunch with Esdeath because she was one of the best storytellers they knew and she helped with the boredom that came with their jobs

"Raven." Anna asked causing her to turn around

"Yes, what's up?" Raven asked stopping in her tracks and turned towards her, they were standing in a hallway, it was basically empty with the exception of the two

"I wanted to ask, what do you think about the email that William sent to us." Anna asked, it was a strange email, and it was sent to the two of them, it said a bunch of personal stuff about them and the mid-tier officers

"Was it only sent to us, or did everyone get it?" Raven asked earning a shake of her head

"It was only us, I have no idea why... maybe she wants to spook us? I don't know, but it isn't that frightening for me." Anna answered "I just wanna make sure you aren't getting too scared by her stupid antics." Anna explained as she rested her hands behind her back

"Nah, I'm not scared of anything, especially some little girl who things she can control us." Raven reasoned earning a raised eyebrow from Anna

"She is twenty four." Anna informed, Raven blinked a few times then looked to her

"Twenty four?" Raven asked earning a nod from Anna "How is she older than us?! She looks like she is twelve!"

"No idea, maybe she was born first and didn't eat enough food for her to... you know... grow." she offered as she began to walk towards the meeting room "Anyways, I have a meeting with the 4. Panzerdivision, apparently they ran into a large swarm of Grimm near the outskirts of the city, they could barely get back here."

"I heard about that, apparently they lost a few panzers with that." Raven commented

"three to be exact." Anna said earning a pained noise Raven, considering most panzers weren't mass produced like mechs were so they were rather expensive to make, Esdeath wasn't going to be happy when she gets back here

"So... what do you plan to do with them?" Raven asked looking at Anna who let out a sigh as she walked

"I don't know, all I can do is tell them that Esdeath'll deal with them, if they run away because of that then... well... I guess we can let them run." Anna said earning a nod from Raven

"That is understandable, it's not like they can get away right?" Raven commented earning a chuckle from Anna

"Yeah... … yeah." she said dryly, that earned a raised eyebrow from Raven

"Whats wrong?" Raven asked causing Anna to snap from her daydream

"Nothing... I've just been having a hard time sleeping." she said "I have nightmares... about the paralysis that I struggled with." Anna said not sure if she wanted to continue speaking or to stay quiet

"Well that's obvious." Raven said with a roll of her eyes "I don't expect you to bounce back like nothing happened. Take your time and don't put on a strong front, you're are the only family I have left so I don't want to see you suffer."

"What about Esdeath?"

"She's more of a step-mother, after what happened with you... I don't know." Raven said as she spun and stared down the hall "I don't know why she would punish you in such a way."

"It was because I was being an idiot, I thought Esdeath wanted mindless soldiers but she wants us all to think. The whole reason she is having me and William brainwash the lower officers is because she never had to deal with those ranks before, so if she can erase them she'll just be able to skip them over and work as she normally would." Anna explained seeming a little uncomfortable in this situation but she would still perform her duties, she didn't like the punishment that she was afforded for not thinking so she was quickly learning to think more and more and more, as well as learning more and more about the real world, she knew everything in Esdeaths' mind so she thought she was on the same level as Esdeath... she was horribly wrong...

"Anna~ hello~ you in there?" Raven said loudly drawing her from thought "You've been staring off into space for a few minutes now, I've been trying to get your attention too." she explained earning a nod from Anna

"Sorry... it was... thinking." Anna commented earning a nod from Raven

"Yeah I could tell." Raven commented earning a hum from Anna

"I should go..." Anna said after a few moments of quiet she then began towards the meeting room they were near

"Have fun in your meeting." Raven said waving to her, Anna waved back as she entered the room

(o)

Esdeath was right... this operation was a mess, sure the generals were good enough to lead each of the ships assigned to them but a lot of Grimm escaped even with Esdeath placing the ships in advantages positions so they could fire on any fleeing Grimm

"I'm assuming that could have gone better in your head?" James commented watching the map replay the troop movements, Esdeath crossed her arms as she watched

"Yeah... If ships two, nine, and three had more active commanders they could have wiped out most of the fliers, and if ship one, four, and six hovered lower we could have had a kill zone between them, it wouldn't have killed all of them but it would have killed a lot of them." Esdeath explained pointing out what she meant, James nodded

"Well, if you told them that-"

"If I had told them it they wouldn't be thinking for themselves. If they couldn't see such a simple tactic when presented they barely deserve to have their rank." Esdeath interrupted earning a laugh from James

"I admit you do have an eye for tactic that I wish I had." James said "I may not have been the best choice for Reichsmarschall but I aspire to be as skilled as you."

"You should probably choose between being a teacher or being a general. I could probably manage it but most people get overwhelmed." Esdeath said earning a nod from James

"You may be right, but I have a duty to both my soldiers and my students to put everything I am into both my careers." James said earning a nod from Esdeath

"I understand. Now if there is nothing else I should be returning to my soldiers." Esdeath said earning a nod from James

"Of course, your army is more volatile than most so feel free to take my airship, it is much faster than the ones afforded to most generals." James added earning a nod from Esdeath

"While it is appreciated I will take mine. Have a good day general." Esdeath said exiting the room, James went back to watching the battle, it was a major one but casualties would beg to differ, very few soldiers were killed, and few Grimm were confirmed kills, it makes this entire operation seem like it was a waste of resource even if they got rid of the hive the resources that it cost compared to the losses suffered on both sides made this operation a deficit in her eyes, but to James and the council they saw it as a completed operation... she will correct them on that mistake, sooner rather than later.

A/N I know that this series had no real arc or story line, it was just Esdeath working. Which admittedly is what most of her career is. She does her job, that's why you cant really write a story about the same thing everyday, because no one wants to watch someones life, if you enjoyed this I am glad, if not... I understand but soon we shall get back to Assassin of Beacon, but until then... enjoy, I know it's not the most enticing story, but I did enjoy writing it, so there is that.