The Saga of Tanya the Evil: Divergance
Chapter Six
Tanya von Degurechaff scowled at the PR types, one of whom was holding up another frilly dress for her. "Just the one...," the lady started.
"No," Tanya said firmly, "this is military, not just a film about my winning the Silver Wing Assault medal."
"Aww," the older woman visibly pouted.
"Major!" an enthusiastic voice called.
Tanya looked over, seeing a slightly younger, brown haired girl rushing up.
Mary Sue stopped, then threw a perfect salute. "Ma'am," she said.
"At ease, ensign," Tanya said formally. She then smiled as she added, "Congratulations on finishing basic training."
"It was soooo hard," Mary groaned and Tanya chuckled.
"The front is worse," Tanya noted wryly.
Viktoriya Serebryakov nodded to Mary, "Nice to see you again."
Mary Sue saluted again, "Lieutenant."
Tanya looked around, frowning slightly. "I thought there were other female officers?" she wondered aloud.
Mary Sue shrugged, "Sorry, I don't know."
"I guess I need to go talk with the PR person," Tanya sighed.
"I'm sorry, the other ensigns should arrive shortly," Captain Rushmeister apologized.
"May I ask what's the plan?" Tanya asked her a bit grimly, "I did NOT enjoy my last propaganda film."
Captain Rushmeister looked apologetic, "It was very popular..."
Tanya just glowered.
Quickly Captain Rushmeister added, "I assure you, that's not the plan this time." A transport truck arrived and she smiled, "There they are."
A group of women all older than Tanya, and dressed in spotless uniforms climbed out of the truck, then one got them lined up at attention.
"You're in charge, Captain," Tanya reminded her.
"Ah," Captain Rushmeister nodded, then addressed the girls, "At ease."
All five ladies were looking adoringly at Tanya, who wasn't sure how she felt about that.
Captain Rushmeister nodded, "Introduce yourselves, ladies."
"Minna Wilcke," the oldest girl introduced herself, her red hair flowing over her shoulders.
"Erica Hartmann," the slim blond smiled casually.
"Gertrud Barkhorn," the brown haired, somewhat more intense woman replied.
"Waltrud Krupinski," a tall, boyish blond smiled.
"Helma Lennartz," the youngest replied, the little blond reminding Tanya of herself, a bit.
"Ensigns," she nodded, "I am Major Tanya von Degurechaff, this is Lt Viktoriya Serebryakov and Ensign Mary Sue. We'll be working together, it seems."
"It's a honor, ma'am," Minna said respectfully.
"So, what's the plan?" Erica addressed Captain Rushmeister.
"First we'll do some promotional photos...," Captain Rushmeister mused.
Later that afternoon... "Well, that was awful," Tanya sighed as the group was having a coffee in a cafe not far from the base.
"The front was worse," Visha offered wryly.
"Thank you for refusing for all of us to do the swimsuits," Minna said with a groan.
"Most of us are too young to do that," Tanya frowned. Several young ladies looked enviously at Minna and Visha, then sighed.
"Major Von Degurechaff," Gertrud Barkhorn met her eyes, "could you... use your influence for us? I signed up to fight."
"Yes!" all four other girls agreed.
"Hmm!" Mary Sue was eating, but nodded firmly.
Tanya mused that, under other circumstances, she'd rather have been well behind the lines in PR. Though admittedly the horrible dresses, not to mention the swimsuit they tried to get her into, would have made her pause.
"Major?" Visha looked at her worriedly.
"Sorry, I was distracted," Tanya admitted.
Tanya studied the five women thoughtfully. They had done flight maneuvers, combat, and other mage skills. And weapon drills, all of which were filmed for the propoganda film. All of them, at least, met the standards of the Imperial Army.
"I suppose I could argue you would be even more effective as idols if you were actually fighting," Tanya mused.
"Yes!" Waltrud said.
"I can't promise anything," Tanya cautioned, "I'm not that influential."
(In that, Tanya was underestimating herself. Winning the Silver Wing Assault medal in her first real battle. On the Rhine front, managing multiple victories and commendations. Her essays and position papers at the War Coledge... the Generals were clearly interested in her.)
"It'll happen," Minna said firmly.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Dacia is moving on us, now?" Tanya had to ask.
"They are apparently moving in support of the Francois Republic," the officer relaying the orders reported.
"And we're being mobilized because no other forces are fast enough to respond," Tanya nodded. "Understood."
Tanya left her tent as she called, "Lt Weiss!"
"Ma'am!" Weiss saluted, standing at attention.
"Assemble the Batallion, we need to move out," Tanya ordered.
"Yes ma'am," Weiss saluted.
Tanya faced the troops and gave a rousing speech, then the group took flight to intercept the marching Dacian military. They pushed flight speeds a little, to make sure they'd get there in time to limit damage done by the invaders.
"Does anyone see mage scouts?" Visha asked. All modern militaries used mages as flying scouts, indeed, that had been Tanya's first job in the military.
"There... doesn't appear to be any," one soldier reported.
Tanya blinked, "What."
As they neared the Dacian forces, they, indeed, saw no mages scouting. Even more surprising they appeared to have no mages at all.
"It's got to be a trap," Weiss said seriously.
It wasn't a trap. They bombed the invaders from out of their range, used spell laden bullets and pretty much demolished the entire army. Then they raided the Dacian field headquarters.
Cheerfully Tanya addressed the stunned soldiers, "Welcome to the Empire, please present your passports?"
"Get them!" the leader yelled hysterically. Mage shields blocked the bullet fire, then they stopped, stunned.
"Should we capture them?" Weiss asked.
"What's the point?" Tanya shrugged. They returned fire, and that was that.
"Get everyone re-organized, including any injuries," Visha ordered.
"If anyone was hurt by these idiots they should die of shame," Tanya noted wryly. She was frowning to herself thoughtfully.
"We're ready to move out," Weiss reported.
Tanya nodded then made an executive decision, "We're going to execute a night raid into Dacia itself! Move out!" she ordered.
"I'm honestly surprised someone hasn't moved against Dacia sooner, with their lack of mage defences," Visha murmured.
"I don't think anyone realized they were this un-defended," Tanya answered wryly.
Flying in the twilight they reached the capitol, where they found munitions factories. They issued a warning as required by international law, then bombarded the buildings with explosive spells to reduce it to rubble.
"I'd say that's a good days work," Tanya decided.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"They did WHAT?" Erich von Rerugen blinked at the messenger. He couldn't have heard right.
"Von Degurechaff defeated the invading Dacian forces, destroyed their leadership, then launched a raid into Dacia itself to destroy multiple military targets," the messenger repeated.
"How...?" Erich blinked.
"She included a full report."
Erich snatched it from his hands and began reading...
To be continued...
Notes: YES, I decided to use names from Strike Witches, but that'll probably be it. They'll be different characters, barring stuff coming up.