Divergence
Chapter 8
Anson Sue and his wife watched the propaganda films. Anson had seen the Tanya one before... he felt sorry for the woman. The 'Flowers of the Empire' film ran next.
"Well, uhm...," Rachel Sue said dubiously.
"Well, at least Mary looks very impressive," Anson said mildly.
"Mary didn't tell us about this when she visited," Rachel frowned.
"Well, we talked about it a little," Anson admitted. He added, "Major Degurechaff at least talked the propaganda folks out of putting them in swimsuits."
"They were WHAT," Rachel scowled.
"There there," Anson patted her arm.
A scowling Rachel continued, "I'm certain it was some pervy man...,"
"Hmm," he nodded as they left the theater. Unlike Tanya and friends, they weren't really interested in seeing a film.
Several young men and women were leaving too. "Major Degurechaff is so cool!" one young lady gushed.
"I want to sign up," a university student lamented, "I need to graduate first though."
"Drop out and sign up," a third encouraged the others.
"I would follow Mary anywhere!" another lady added.
Rachel had overheard all that too. "Well, the film does seem to be working," she noted to Anson a bit dubiously.
"Well, anything that ends the war sooner...," Anson sighed.
Rachel nodded, sighing.
"There's some good news," Anson added, "Dacia has officially surrendered. Thanks, apparently, to Major Degurechaff and the 203rd."
"That is an impressive, if frightening, young woman," Rachel agreed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
They were facing off against Legadonia and volunteer forces in Norden, as November ground on around them.
"This is awful," Tanya muttered, blowing on her cold hands. She and several of the inner circle were in her command tent, going over maps of the enemy's movements.
"I think it's refreshing," Hilde Schnee beamed, the nordic blond clearly not bothered by the frigid temps at all.
Her and Aoi Rushmeister were running filming the Valkyries, as well as the 203rd in action. Aoi had recovered from training hell and seemed very enthusiastic, and Hilde worked as a combination aide/camerawoman for her.
They, thankfully, could use the Computation Orbs themselves for much of the filming. The visual quality wasn't quite as good as film cameras, but for the newsreels it was fine.
"I have to admit I don't fully get the enemy's intentions here," Hilde admitted.
"I suspect they're mostly just buying time and tying up our forces," Tanya admitted.
"Huh?" Hilde blinked.
"We're fighting a two front war with the Entente Alliance and the Francois Republic," Tanya said patiently, "they absolutely do not want us to concentrate our forces and defeat one or the other. So they have to keep us occupied here with seemingly random attacks."
"So couldn't we just leave a skeletal force here?" Hilde wondered.
Visha spoke up, "But if they DO get enough reinforcements and attack, they could defeat whomever we left as guard."
"So we're stuck," Hilde realized.
"Unless we can defeat them outright," Tanya agreed, "and with winter coming, most of our military can't mobilize supplies or troops here."
Hilde nodded as she said, "Unlike us, who are very mobile and can rush in here and reinforce them as needed."
"Exactly," Visha nodded.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Captain Aoi Rushmeister HATED the cold, hated the conditions and hated most of the idiots around them.
(She would be surprised how much Tanya agreed with her. However, Aoi rarely talked to Tanya directly, and anyway she didn't want to know how 'The Devil of The Rhine' thought.)
But Aoi LOVED how the filming was going.
Snow covered hills, mountains, and all that made gorgeous backdrops for the mages. And there had been several skirmishes where she had filmed the Valkyries in action. It would make an incredible propaganda film, later.
"All right, is everyone fine? Not low on magic?" Aoi checked with everyone via radio as they did flight practice not far from field HQ.
"Totally fine!" Mary Sue replied enthusiastically, but Aoi knew to ignore her. The girl's capacity for magic was nearly as abnormal as Tanya's.
Helma was the only one who seemed tired, understandably so. She was nearly as young as Tanya herself.
"We should probably head in," Minna Wilcke noted. She added, "We need to be ready if we're deployed too."
Aoi firmly stomped on her annoyance, knowing she was right. "Okay, we'll..."
"Mages of 203rd assemble!" Weiss' voice cut them off.
"You heard him, move it," Aoi ordered, the group taking to the air and returning to the base.
Tanya gave a rousing speech, explaining that they were deploying to save a critical supply depot. She also reminded them that foreign powers were assisting their enemies, and that they should know the world was watching.
Lieutenant Matheus Johan Weiss then handled the nitty gritty deployment issues. Aoi watched him admiringly, as he was pretty much her type.
Alas, the military had a no fratrenization policy.
Tanya had assembled the full battalion shortly after the Valkyries joined. In simple terms, she spelled out all the details of the rules involved. THEN she made it clear there would be zero tollerance for violations, and that she, herself, would oversee any punishments.
Aoi felt certain the speech had been directed at the men in the unit, but she wasn't raking the chance. Tanya scared the shit out of her.
"I'm SO looking forward to this!" Mary exclaimed excitedly as they soared towards the battlefield.
"Watch each other's backs," Aoi reminded them. "Battlefields are chaotic, make sure your wing mates are all right."
"Ma'am!" Minna Wilcke nodded.
Minna, Erica and Gertrud were the senior mages, so Aoi had paired them with Mary, Waltrud and Helma. Aoi herself would hang back a bit, filming the action. And, if needed, helping out... she had been drilling with the 203rd mages to boost her own skills, but still felt lacking.
"Enemy mages ahead! Detecting bombers at extreme range," they heard over the radio.
"Here we go," Aoi muttered.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Visha kept an eye on the Valkyries as the battle raged, but soon decided it wasn't needed. All four had shown they were capable, with Mary Sue being ridiculously powerful.
'Then there's the Major,' Visha thought as she saw Tanya flying up to attack the bombers. Only her unique Orb gave her the range, and she seemed positively eager to do it.
The mages jinked and fired as they fought the enemy mages, and it was closer than Visha liked. These were strong, capable mages that appeared well rested and ready for battle. Unlike the exhausted, hopeless men they had expected.
'Major Degurechaff is right,' Visha thought as she shot a mage down, "they're getting assistance from other countries.'
The enemy mages fell to weapon fire and attack spells, even as far above the bombers exploded one by one. In a few minutes, Tanya returned to their side.
"Looks like we've saved the depot," Tanya noted, but she looked distracted.
"Ma'am?" Visha asked.
"We're being observed remotely," Tanya noted.
"Ah! And not concealing themselves either," Visha said, feeling a bit sheepish she hadn't noticed sooner.
"I can take them out from here," Tanya swung her rifle into place.
"Couldn't we capture them?" Gertrud offered, having gotten near enough to listen. "We think other powers are getting involved... if this is them, it's proof isn't it?"
Tanya paused, then nodded, "I'm not sure our command would want proof, mind you. But it's worth the attempt."
"Request permission to go!" Minna added, saluting.
Tanya made a snap decision, "Captain Rushmeister! You're filming this. Valkyrie squad, Viktoriya, let's go."
The group of nine took off, tracing the signals back. They blew up the cabin, swooped in, then grabbed the shocked observers...
To be continued...
