The War Chronicles of a Little Demon
Set in the Return Verse
A Saga of Tanya the Evil fic thingy.
By Sunshine Temple
Naturally, I do not own Youjo Senki. So here's the disclaimer:
Saga of Tanya the Evil its characters and settings belong Carlo Zen, Shinobu Shinotsuki, and NUT Co., Ltd.
Previous chapters and other works can be found at my fanfiction website.
fic/
Other website Temple of Ranma's Senshi Seifuku
C&C as always is wanted.
Chapter 14: Verbum Vincet
My toes sank into the sand as small waves splashed over my legs. As I tried to keep my wings dry and clear of the lapping water, I looked across the sea towards the north. Across the bottle-green expanse of the Guardia Sea was... my home.
Eastern Province and Bovitar were about two thousand miles away from the beach I currently stood upon. That said the islands off the coast of Cape Niflhel the closest part of House BlackSky were only about half that distance away.
I let my tail dip into the pleasantly warm water. Out in the sea, between the horizon and I and blocking my homeward view across the waves, was an Alecton Navy Howe class Fleet Missile Cruiser, accompanied by a BlackSkyvian Jarngreipr class Frigate.
At about 4,500 gross tons the Jarngreipr was closer to the frigates of my first life than the vessels of my second life. But funnily enough, the Jarngreipr was the largest surface combat vessel House BlackSky could call its own. Officially a part of the Household Fleet, the BlackSkyvian Navy was more of a strange branch of an airship-dominated service rather than coequal force all its own. But even the air power-focused House BlackSky had thankfully realized that there were some roles that a surface, or subsurface, warship filled for more neatly than a swarm of Ritual Plate units would.
I inhaled the salty air. It was nice to be out of the jungles for once.
Despite being called a frigate the Jarngreipr was more heavily armed than a Mace Torpedo Destroyer airship. It carried two Spatha Light VTOLs, as opposed to the Mace's single unit. The highly agile aerial airframes were useful for resupply, anti-submarine warfare, and a multitude of other support roles. The heavier armament included more Fujiwara Aerial Torpedoes, more Vel missile launchers, two RP squadrons compared to the Mace's one squadron, a Tormenta's worth of four 4.9in guns, and a suite of conventional aquatic torpedoes.
In light of the fact that, despite being longer, the Mace was a tenth the weight of the Jarngreipr, the difference in armament was understandable. One had the buoyancy to float in air, the other had the buoyancy to float on seawater. Of course despite its relatively modest armament, the Mace Destroyer was the far more mobile platform and relied upon speed, standoff capabilities and wards for armor.
Relatively powerful though the Jarngreipr class was, the nearby Howe cruiser had nearly three times the displacement. The Howe was amongst the largest of House Alecto's surface combat ships and was certainly the largest model produced in significant numbers. In addition to the Howes, the Alecton Navy also retained two squadrons of heavily refitted fast battleships, some Battlecruisers that were more of pocket fleet leaders for colonial patrols, and enough amphibious assault ships to move a respectable quantity of Alecton Marines and their equipment.
I gave happy a sigh and stepped deeper into the water. It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep my wings dry and safe from the waves. I knew it was a struggle that could only end in the inevitable, but I sought to put that dire end off for as long as I could; after all once they got wet, my feathers would become a magnet for sand.
House Trosier had taken a slightly different view on naval power and doctrine than their rival House Alecto. The Trosic Armada worked to minimize their surface assets by two methods: first by fielding smaller and faster surface ships, and second using more submersible assets, including some impressive submersible RP carriers. Though, as larger submarines, they were a bit nosier than stealthier, and much smaller, BlackSkyvian equivalents.
All three Houses made use of submarines. Both airborne RP carriers and submarine launch platforms were made practical by the lightweight nature of RP and the relatively small resource footprint required to field flights. Considering the damage a hit-and-run attack by a submarine-based RP flight could inflict before retreating back below the waves, submarines were an essential part of all three Houses' fleets.
The clouds moved overhead, stealing my sun and leaving me in their shadow. The Trosic Armada's doctrine was largely influenced by having to counter both the BlackSkyvian Household Fleet and the Alecton Navy. Where House Alecto could count on the massed air fleets of House BlackSky being allied or at least not a threat.
The shadow grew deeper over me. I knew I was not alone on the beach. "Primus?" Visha asked. A hand waved in front of me.
"Is she okay?" the Baroness asked as she splashed up next to me.
Visha looked to me and then back out to ships far off-shore. "Ah, she's distracted."
"Is our Countess thinking deep thoughts again?"
"We are near Usang, which is a major Alecton city," Visha mused.
"And naval base," I added automatically. "It's the home port of their Fourth Central Fleet. Interestingly, the Fourth has a larger than expected complement of Hammerhead Attack Subs and Kraken Missile Submarines."
"Yes?" Visha asked. The dark blue swimsuit she had on was quite nice, if a bit daringly cut with thin straps around the shoulders and hips.
Stamping a foot in the water, VioletBlood sighed. She wore a rather fancy silver suit that I wondered if she had packed as part of her kit. "You're encouraging her."
"Combined with the two Ruyter class amphibious assault ships stationed here, plus a cruiser squadron and a fleet carrier complement, the Fourth's composition speaks volumes about Alecto's intentions to close the Guardia Sea to House Trosier," I explained.
VioletBlood took my arm. "Tauria... we're on leave."
"We are in a very important part of the world," I countered and started gesturing. "One of the southern tips of Diyu is a thousand miles that way. We're in one of the larger coastal concessions of House Alecto, behind that is the Minor House Crocelli, and yet further south is their Eastern Interior Confederation."
"We are all aware of that. How many months did we spend in that swamp keeping the peace?" VioletBlood demanded.
"I would not exactly call that a peace keeping mission. You see, our role was more along the lines of protecting a strategic asset while the actual counter-insurgency work was carried out by our... local allies."
VioletBlood rolled her eyes at me.
"Now who's encouraging her?" Visha teased.
Flicking her tail through the water, VioletBlood rolled her eyes. "Maybe we should have had her wear a hat. She might be getting too much sun."
"I am not getting too much sun!" I stamped my foot, ignoring how petulant it must have looked.
"Maybe she's dehydrated. Primus, do you want a drink?" Visha asked.
"I suppose..." I turned away from the sea and looked back up the beach. The rest of our squadron, and our maintainers were here. Roughly a light century's worth of personnel, all told. And the Immunes century of combat engineers a bit further up the beach were also enjoying themselves. This part of the coast was a private beach belonging to the resort facilities Alecto had leased to House BlackSky for the purposes of R&R. Which of course meant that the resort required a fair amount of security. Which explained the Yew coastal boats out the water and the RP on overwatch.
"She's doing it again," VioletBlood sighed as she leaned in and stared into my eyes.
"Maybe we should get her some lunch," Visha pulled my arm.
The smell coming from the converted drum grills was enticing. And there was a fair amount of beverages, and not just alcoholic ones. "I should get my share..." I allowed.
Given Samoth's probable survival, I had decided to give the whole squadron a consolation prize and covered the consumables for this particular outing.
Being in House Alecto's territory did mean that it was fairly easy to purchase such supplies.
"You got her that fancy suit and she didn't even swim yet?" GreyDawn asked as she lounged in a beach chair, her crimson hair pulled back in a rough ponytail. She was sipping a glass of ginger schnapps over ice and was nibbling a pita with some sort of savory meat filling.
"She keeps plotting," VioletBlood pouted.
"We think she's just hungry," Visha said, leaning close to me.
"At least you got her into the swimsuit," GreyDawn noted, taking a long sip as she stretched her wings out to better catch the sun.
"It's fluffy," I growled, refusing to look down at the ruffled and bowed confection I was wearing.
"It's fuchsia, and I gave you options," VioletBlood said.
"The other one was pink! And a bikini!" I growled.
"You didn't have to wear anything."
"It's not a nude beach!" I retorted with another highly mature foot stomp.
GreyDawn slowly blinked at me. "She hasn't seen her Ritualista has she?" the older Pilot asked VioletBlood.
"What is Gibbs up to?"
"Not her. The little blonde one, Flavia."
VioletBlood rolled her eyes. "Of course she's naked. It's her suit that the Countess is borrowing."
"What? I didn't think to pack swimwear into a war zone." My tail flicked. My Ritualista volunteered to have me borrow this swimsuit. However... if she was going to be a nudist why did she even bring a suit? It's not like I was not going to give this back to her.
"Come on, let's get you some food," Visha put her arm through mine and pulled me along.
On the way up the beach we stopped and had a few quiet words with Octavia. She was taking the loss of her flight-mate rather well. Sofia had been a gregarious pilot with amber skin and short black hair. She had been with the Squadron for quite a while, and had originally been a member of the Flight I had taken over. And now, she was another casualty in our House's long-term "assistance" in stability or peace-keeping or whatever they called securing our resource interests in this part of the Home plane.
Despite having been close to Sophia, I was not very worried about Octavia. I had more concerns about how Primus Mercy Gabinus was handling it. Octavia was the replacement of her last KIA.
It was no fault of Mercy's, but when you only had three Flights in a Squadron it only took a bit of bad luck to have a Flight get disproportionate casualties.
VioletBlood nudged me along. "Come on, Countess."
My tail whipped around and might have hit her. Which... glancing around at the horseplay, catch, and general recreation probably would not have been considered remarkable.
The smell of the grill was getting very enticing. Maybe my flight was right about me being hungry... Sausages and kabobs were not my normal fare, but Quirinus was using a brush to spread various sauces that smelled great over the cooking meat. Not to mention whatever was in the improvised smoker. And Caenis had rigged up a pot of simmering oil and was frying bobbing bits of dough and had another pot full of cinnamon and sugar.
"Countess," Quirinus bowed her horns to me.
I somehow kept from smiling. Her floppy sun-hat was practical but it did slightly detract from her gravitas. She also had a black apron over her own teal bikini.
My squadron commander had no such limits and chuckled at my getup.
"I have been told I need to eat."
"Running on empty is bad for a Pilot," Quirinus stated soberly.
"I've got plenty of filling zeppole," Caenis said as she used a slotted metal scoop to fish out some of the frying pastries, gently shake them, then dump them into the sugar bucket.
VioletBlood's tail swished eagerly at that.
"That does sound good, and it's nice to be able to get Alecton food," Quirinus noted as she bowed her horns to me.
"We can still get local supplies to supplement our rations in the Interior," Caenis shrugged. Local supplies were always risky when you were part of an occupation. Yes, FOB EmeraldInferno was in an area rather far from Diluvian tribal lands. The Forward Operating Base was picked to give defensive depth to the mines and refinery that were the main reason House BlackSky cared enough to garrison troops here.
Still, it was a risk to pull in local supplies. It was a vector for sabotage.
"It's getting more expensive, no?" Visha asked between the happy noises she made over the grill.
"Some farmers in the Interior are having problems," Caenis said. The Eastern Interior Confederation had a fair number of areas that could support a lot of plant growth such as jungles.
"Poor harvests?" VioletBlood asked as she was given a bag full of warm little fried and sugared pastries. "I heard rumors of some Alecton overflights over agricultural regions friendly to the Diluvians."
Caenis' gold eyes shimmered. "Defoliants? That's a bit obvious, no?"
VioletBlood tilted her head as she started eating the zeppole. I frowned at her. "What then?"
"Well, clearing all that land is hard, what if other things were... seeded from the air? To encourage growth, but the wrong growth."
Quirinus gave her second in command a look as she filled a little carton with sausages and kabobs before going over to the smoker.
"Like invasive species?" VioletBlood made a thoughtful noise as she fed me a pastry.
I chewed and enjoyed the fluffy sweet pastry. If true, that could be diabolical, deliberately sowing things like kudzu, eucalyptus, or even just fast-growing weeds into enemy fields would increase farming difficulties. Weeding was hard enough in the Interior.
Slicing some smoked brisket she had pulled out of the smoker, Quirinus gave all of us a quelling gaze. "Such rumors are unfounded. And you all need to be a bit more careful when it comes to discussing any dirty deeds done by our allies." She handed the carton to Visha. "Be more like Centurion Shadow. She knows when to be silent."
No matter the species, messing with their food supplies was risky. Famines can break civilizations. And not being civilized was a stigma on Diyu, it was part of what separated the Great Houses from the Minor Houses, the Minor Houses from the city-state and tribes, and those from the savage, barbarian broods.
"Thank you Ma'am; it smells delicious," Visha bowed her horns to Quirinus.
VioletBlood's tail flicked and I could feel her desire to roll her eyes. I suppose she wanted to continue to gossip about "perfidious Alecto". They were an ally of House BlackSky, but they did have a reputation.
That does not mean that the other Great Houses were above such "dirty tricks" either. Though I suppose that was why the rumors were adding weeds. Unlike introducing rodents or blights that was a problem that could be surmounted, maybe with a few extra goats. I could see the rationale, the more energy and resources put into food production, the less the Diluvians could spare for combat.
Though, I suspected our questionable operations branch, the Office of Cultural and Strategic Reconnaissance, had a whole variety of creative ideas when it came to sapping the Diluvians' will and capability to fight.
I had spent the bulk of my career in the legions trying to avoid the attention of CSR and after meeting with Centurion Nihilus I felt my instincts were correct.
"I'll get our drinks," I said, going over to the stamped aluminum coolers. I opened one and found it was full of chilled wine bottles and a good fraction of the Squadron's liquor stock. I went to the next double-walled cooler and found some bottles of sparkling juice, mostly pomegranate and citrus blends.
VioletBlood, who was still eating the occasional zeppole, frowned at me.
"Do you really need to drink?" Visha asked her.
"That ginger schnapps GreyDawn got seemed really enticing," the Baroness pouted and looked to Quirinus.
Our squadron commander chuckled as she closed up the smoker and added more sausages and pierced some more of the bits of lamb, onions, peppers, and other vegetables to make more kabobs before putting them on the grill.
A few Ritualista from First Flight had ambled up and were being given more food. I averted my gaze as a couple had decided to go topless. Fortunately, Visha was helping me back to the towels over where GreyDawn was lounging.
Though by the way LoveBlood was smirking and swishing her tail, she had also noticed my discomfort. "You are such a bashful countess. You're in the Legions, you know how showers are in the barracks. If you wanted fancy things like privacy you should have gone into the Fleet."
I snorted. Conditions on fleet airships could be a bit more spacious, at least on larger airships. Lighter-than-air craft was limited by mass more than volume. Smaller airships however... were cramped in both mass and volume. Either way, a Fleet Airship was still a military airship and was not going to be exactly luxurious when it came to crew berthing. "It's not that."
"We were also cadets together and in the ballet troupe," VioletBlood gave a little smirk to Visha, to show off what the Baroness presumed as her knowing me for longer.
I sighed. For her part, Visha did seem a bit jealous. Which did not make any sense. Unless she was being really committed to the false history we had agreed on, that is the lack of history.
"Really, I'm not sure why you're worried about the bathing suit. Given the leotards you've worn up on stage."
"That's different," I pouted.
VioletBlood looked to Visha for clarification.
"Our Primus has her quirks," Visha stated as she put the carton down and shook the beach towel free of sand.
GreyDawn looked up and took a sip of her drink. Which had somehow been refreshed while we were away getting our own food and drink. Idly, I wondered when she had gotten up to get more ice.
"You're just buttering her up," VioletBlood said, eating another pastry. I noticed she had already eaten a quarter of the bag's contents.
Visha tilted her head. "Why would I want to do that?"
"Because you want to play double's Liar's Dice with GreyDawn after lunch."
GreyDawn nodded. "That would be fun, those Combat Engineers up the beach are ripe targets."
"This is what happens when no one in the squadron wants to play against you two," I noted as I sat down. Even with the towel as an insulator the sand was warm. It felt a bit odd to have my tail go out onto the beach and swish.
"They won't play for serious odds, Ma'am," GreyDawn said to me as Visha handed her a kabob.
"It's still fun to play, you really get to know people when you have a bit of dice or cards with them," Visha said happily as she sliced open a buttered sourdough bun she had gotten from somewhere, slid a sausage into it, and offered it to me.
I bit into the sausage in a bun and chewed. Visha was always very skilled at bluffing and reading people, and GreyDawn could calculate odds and strategize betting. They made a very effective team.
"They can go off and play some games." VioletBlood smiled at me. "We could go flying or maybe for a swim."
Visha shrugged and gave me a kabob, ready to be consumed as soon as I finished my first nosh.
"I'm not in any great rush." I shrugged as I finished off the little sausage. It was not too spicy, but the mix of herbs added to the meat blend had given the link a zesty kick.
"We could just relax," Visha offered.
"And later today we could go out, maybe see a play. There is a theater here. It would be in Bantish, but it should be a bit civilized."
GreyDawn seemed amused at the Baroness' antics.
"The Prefect might have something planned for tonight too," Visha reminded.
"I was thinking before that!" VioletBlood said, a bit petulantly.
I bit into the lamb. It was moist and delicious with a light spicing. Our squadron commander had a surprising variety of skills, one of them being cooking. Lamb was so lean that it was hard to keep from drying out, especially over coals. I wondered if she used a special marinade or some other sort of cooking method to keep the meat nice and juicy.
The other vegetables on the metal skewers were perfectly handled, cooked without being burnt. If she wanted out of the Imperial Legions, I was sure Quirinus could easily get a job as a chef -and I'd be happy to write a recommendation to that effect if she ever asked.
Sadly for the hypothetical restaurant's customers, I doubted Prefect Volantes Centurion Artemis Magnus Quirinus, as a career centurion, had any plans to leave the Legions in the foreseeable future.
I would not begrudge her choice. She had been a good instructor when I was a cadet; as far as commanders went, she was thoroughly acceptable, and did not lack in any regard. Besides, it was impossible to ignore that she had take me under her figurative wing. To a degree, I guess that was expected, considering my young age and lack of previous seasoning. So, as good of a cook as she was, I had a vested interest in Quirinus staying in the Legions for as long as she could to continue to watch my back.
Since it was an open secret that I would have a squadron command of my own within a couple years if I did not get myself killed, that selfish desire was happily in line with the best interest of my organization. After all, being a sensible Legionary, Quirinus would want to make sure I could handle such responsibility before she left the service to prevent any post-retirement tarnishing of her sterling reputation.
I ate more of the kabob as my tail swished happily.
I appreciated the attention on her part. I would rather my superiors carefully have me grow into the command position made inevitable my own reputation, skills and noble ties, especially when the alternative was jumping me two grades and giving me a command I would have to scramble to staff, equip, train, and deploy.
Still, part of me did think that Quirinus had missed her calling by not becoming a professional chef.
I wondered if that part of me was just projecting my own concerns and how I was counting down the years and months until my term of service finished onto my current commanding officer.
"She's doing it again, Visha," VioletBlood pouted as she poked me with her own kabob.
"Am not!" I growled.
"Then what were you thinking about?" VioletBlood asked. "Some sort of bold tactic or flaw in our enemy's air power doctrine?"
"I was thinking about what I would be doing if I hadn't joined the Legions," I sighed.
VioletBlood blinked.
Right, she had wanted to be a Ritual Plate Pilot since before she could walk, let alone fly. She had also got her guardian to funnel a portion of her inheritance into Ritual Plate lessons.
"What would you have done?" VioletBlood asked before daintily chewing on a sausage. "I'm guessing you don't mean like the Fleet or an Auxilia. Maybe a Guild position? Your mother does have her own mercenary squadron, though most mercenary Pilots are veterans..."
"Maybe you'd do more ballet?" Visha suggested as she ate.
"Maybe. I could have gone professional with ballet," I joked, taking some of the fried sweets before LoveBlood ate them all. Being a ballerina was not that bad of a job. It came with travel and some status, and was fairly safe, if punishing on your feet. Demons with hooves did have an advantage. Yes, the costumes were humiliating, but it was just on stage.
"That is an elegant and cultured vocation," VioletBlood approvingly said.
"Maybe you can start doing it again, if it means that much to you!" Visha happily suggested.
Tail stiff, I stared at her.
VioletBlood frowned. "We did have to resign from the ballet troupe when we got assigned to Quirinus' squadron. And there really hasn't been much of a chance to practice out in the jungle."
I gave a little exhale.
"Maybe when we get rotated back to Bovitar," VioletBlood said.
Looking out over the water, I chewed my lip. "Maybe," I allowed before turning back around to look at the rest of the squadron. They were enjoying themselves. The revelry was still rather contained.
I had enough experience with soldiers to know that partying could get quite hardy. I was a bit surprised no one had hired any entertainers. I was sure the resort would have a roster of trusted providers. Maybe Quirinus had put out a quiet word that there would be none of that today. At least among her and Mercy's Flights.
"Have you ever visited Alecton territory?" VioletBlood asked Visha.
"There was a family vacation when I was younger," Visha said as she sipped her drink.
"And how was it? This seems very nice but I have heard their more northerly areas can be a bit... dreary."
"Oh, they're pleasant enough!" Visha assured the baroness after giving me a look. House Alecto had some similarities to the Allied Kingdom but with some of the low countries mixed in. Which in our lives were part of the Empire on their border to the sea with the Francois Republic.
And while some parts of House Alecto were rather temperate, such as their northernmost enclave on Atalia Island or their enclave on the southern part of Minor House Mergera, many of their areas were far warmer such as the territory we were in which was across from House BlackSky's southernmost point.
Though the Alecton home island was just a bit south of Amber Island, where Visha grew up, and about the same latitude as Bovitar so I suppose it was temperate enough.
"The currents and jet stream from the Curae Sea would make things warmer, I suppose," I said after having another sausage.
VioletBlood shook her head at me.
"Yes, that is true," Visha agreed with me and I found my plate was refilled.
"I guess we have gone on a tour of..." VioletBlood paused. "Five Houses?" she asked, giving Visha a sly look. My wingwoman had missed out on our adventures in Andromache, RedStorm, and Vualia.
"Join the Legions, see the world," VioletBlood then laughed.
"You should be grateful, Baroness," I made a sweeping, imperious gesture. "Look at the lovely beach bestowed upon us by our Imperatrix."
VioletBlood and Visha smirked.
"We could go for a swim," VioletBlood offered.
I looked down at my suit and frowned and then pushed some sand with the fins on my tail.
"Don't worry about your wings," VioletBlood assured.
"I'm not worried about them!"
The baroness rolled her eyes and looked over at Visha. "She's very particular."
"She is," Visha agreed. "Maybe remind her that you have experience with feathers."
I glanced between the two.
"I have a cousin, who has dark blue feathers," VioletBlood assured. "I asked for a bit of advice and got some special shampoo and she did warn me about sand."
"Shampoo?" I knew how to groom myself. And that included my feathers. Normal soap and water was sufficient.
"It will add some more luster to them," VioletBlood reached out but held her hand inches from my wings. "They could be so very shiny."
I eyed the baroness who had, after months in a jungle FOB, put her hair back in her preferred drill-like curls. I could not begrudge her a little primping - we had all gotten cleaned up after all, as soon as we left the jungle. Besides, as a species we tended to be rather fastidious and vain, as well as gregarious and aggressive.
Even I had spent more time than was strictly necessary for purely hygienic purposes in the showers after we left the FOB, thoroughly washing out my hair before pulling it back into a ponytail. While far from VioletBlood's elaborate curls, the ponytail was better than the lank mess an perpetual helmet-hair of the last several months. Not that I would prioritize hair care over helmets, of course. While helmets played havoc with hair, I would take a good helmet over pristine hair any day of the week. Helmets as standard equipment was something that I had argued for, and gotten, for the 203rd. That and goggles.
I would not want to pilot a Ritual Plate without the helmet and face mask. Not just for the physical protection and environmental control but also the communication and data display systems.
VioletBlood smirked. "Are you thinking about fluffy wings or some bit of Legion kit?"
I glared at her.
"We can finish up our lunch and then go for a swim," Visha offered.
I shrugged.
"Or we could just take a nap on the warm sand on this nice towel," VioletBlood countered. "You know, be rested for tonight's entertainment."
I snorted. And had to keep from laughing at how the Baroness seemed to droop.
"I think the Prefect will have a great night planned for all of us," Visha said.
"Yes, but our Baroness was trying to make it sound salacious," GreyDawn drawled.
"Indeed, she was," I agreed.
VioletBlood pouted.
"You did mention wanting to visit, maybe get some Alecton culture?" Visha asked as she took the bag of pastries to give to me.
"There was that idea to see an opera." VioletBlood shrugged. "It's better than trying some R&R in House Crocelli."
"That is a larger security risk," I stated. "Well... depends on where you are."
"The Crocelli outside of the Interior Confederations are almost, um... more civilized," VioletBlood admitted.
I sighed at her.
"They are superstitious," the baroness haughtily said. "Maybe it's due to living out in the jungles."
"As opposed to the very urbane Eastern Province?" Visha innocently asked.
VioletBlood sniffed. "The Diluvians and the other tribes warn their children to not go out at night, to cover up their windows."
"Those jungles are full of predators," I reminded.
"Do you think the Navish are real? They're just a bedtime story."
I eyed her. "We use invisible spirits all the time. Zephyr can be powerful and the Notus spirits guiding our Torpedoes can be vicious."
"That's different. I'm not saying there aren't vicious spirits or predators out in there in the jungle somewhere, but that makes every primitive superstition about lurking monsters true too."
I shook my head. "It doesn't really matter if the Navish are real or not. The Diluvians believe they stalk their villages, and... they're afraid of vengeful, predatory forest spirits..." I trailed off.
"What?" VioletBlood asked.
"Just thinking. Fear is powerful. And there are rumors..."
Visha looked at me.
I shook my head. No need to tell VioletBlood about the rumors of Alecton meddling and something CSR might be doing to help House Crocelli keep order.
VioletBlood chuckled. "Right, so you'll talk about crop sabotage but you're worried that we, I'm sorry, our allies might have dirty hands?"
I snorted. After talking with Invidia, I would not put much beyond the will of the Office of Cultural and Strategic Reconnaissance.
"Have we heard anything about the replacement for Mercy's Flight?" Visha asked.
VioletBlood gave a slight smile at the attempt to change the subject.
"With my luck, it'll be another noble cadet pilot," GreyDawn said as she sipped her schnapps.
VioletBlood bristled.
"Yeah, it would be bad if our squadron got a reputation for handling young pilots."
The Baroness gave me a hurt look.
"I would much rather have our cadets spend more time growing their skills and maturing before being sent into a combat posting."
"We did fine!" she huffed.
"Yes, but the point of the cadet program is to find talent early and give them extra training with Ritual Plate and then command lessons. Sending all those cadets into field postings defeats the purpose."
"It's like eating our seed corn," Visha added as she ate a kabob.
I nodded to her. "Exactly, activating young Cadets robs future years of a crop of older and more experienced Pilots."
VioletBlood sighed. "I suppose you're right. It's just odd being some of the youngest Pilots in our entire Wing."
"House BlackSky does not, as a general rule, prefer child soldiers," I reminded. "We're exceptions."
The petulant pout to VioletBlood's glare underscored my point. She was a capable Pilot, but she was also a war maniac who got a bit too gleeful when it came to killing the enemy.
Visha nearly choked on her sausage as she laughed. After all, this was the second empire we had lived in that was willing to... bend the rules when it came to putting younger airborne mages into combat slots.
"Well, I could go for a swim," VioletBlood announced as she stood up and stretched out her wings. "Anybody coming with me?"
Visha gave me an interested look.
I pondered. Mostly I wondered if VioletBlood really wanted some younger little proto-Aces she could bully well... mould into followers. I would have to keep an eye on her, especially as one day LoveBlood would make Primus and have a Flight to command herself.
"Come on, Countess, I can see your wings twitching in anticipation," VioletBlood teased.
I finished off my lunch and then stood up and flicked my tail. Visha followed. Looking out I could see that a lot of the squadron's Ritualista were already swimming and, dare I say it, frolicking.
I gave a little smile. I should have done more with the 203rd when I had the chance. But given my age and my authority as the unit commander myself playing out on the beach with them could have undermined things. My age was less of an issue here, and I was just one Flight Leader.
Visha slipped into position. VioletBlood saw me tensing, but she reacted too slowly as I shoved her... into Visha's arms. My wingwoman spun her lightly but I was already sprinting down the beach and had a head start.
I put out my wings and with a flap went airborne and coasted over the start of the water and gained just enough altitude to slip into the bottle-green water in a shallow foot-first dive. I was pretty sure that the water was deep enough that far out, but I wanted to be cautious, and not risk hitting my head on a rock or something.
Popping to the surface, I looked around to see that LoveBlood was about to land onto me, she had not been so cautious and was coming down head first. At least her arms were held in front of her.
There was a tangling ugly splash as we spun around before bobbing back up, Visha had swum up to us and shook her head.
I freed myself from the pouting baroness and paddled over to a bit of open sea and rolled onto my back. Wings and other limbs out, I looked up into the sky as I was carried by the waves. It was almost peaceful. I tried not to think too much about the airship I could see up in the sky. It looked like a civilian model. Probably shipping fast-moving supplies across the Gaudia Sea. Or maybe it had a destination further inland.
Visha and VioletBlood came over to me.
Both were smiling. That seemed rather ominous. Them working together was more harmonious but seemed to bring me more trouble.
Fortunately they merely pounced on me and, using her wingtip, Visha declared me "it" before she and VioletBlood then swam off.
I had a moment of shock as I rolled over to tread water. The two had even split up. Fine, if they wanted to make a challenge of it, I would show them. Kicking, I darted after VioletBlood.
Visha was taller and had longer legs and wings, and from her stories of growing up on Amber Island she did get more swim-time.
VioletBlood tried to go fully underwater to escape me but that was folly. I quickly caught up to her and after a brief tumble I managed to tag her back. Next came the hard part: I had to escape.
Like air, water is a fluid. However, it is far denser and far more viscous. This is why aquatic combat and aerial combat, while having similarities, also have key differences. To my luck, VioletBlood went with her trained instincts and maneuvered as if she was in the air.
As she wallowed, I managed to dart away, and made a mental note that I needed to request some aquatic and diver training for my Flight.
Fortunately for Visha, VioletBlood had target fixation and focused on chasing me. I made a note to make this tag game a bit more complex. Swimming, I twisted around and led VioletBlood closer to Visha. Then with a gleeful burst, the Baroness took the bait and swapped targets, trying to tag the Islander Pilot.
My competitive edge began to wane as my feathers grew increasingly waterlogged, making them less effective and less maneuverable than the Vs'.
It did not take much longer for Visha to surge ahead on points. Though mildly disappointed at how handily I had been beaten, I took it as a lesson and added more aquatic training to my mental list.
VioletBlood was the first one to ask to get out of the water.
I hardly objected as I was more than willing to get out as well.
Despite carefully tracking across the beach to our blankets, a lot of sand did stick to my feet and legs and a bit was kicked up by my wings and tail.
GreyDawn had fallen asleep under her parasol. Moving around the squadron who were mostly playing and relaxing, Visha had run ahead to get some more food and refreshments.
She was already sitting down on the towel by the time I had so carefully walked up. VioletBlood for her part was following at my heel.
Kneeling down on the towel, I found Visha helping me stretch out and lay down. That was pretty comfortable, especially when she had more of those fried pastries.
VioletBlood for her part started cleaning my wings and using a special brush to preen them and remove any sand that had gotten in around my wing roots. It was oddly relaxing and reminded me of when Mother Clementia would help brush my hair and wings.
I might have yawned and Visha helped provide a place for me to put my head down which would give VioletBlood a better angle to work. It was nice to, for a small time, be able to put aside my concerns.
12345678987654321
"Paymon-flagged freighter, you are entering restricted waters, prepare for boarding, reduce your speed to 10 knots and change your heading," the navy dispatcher said over an open channel in Silvan Latin before giving a course. She then repeated herself in Bantish and then Paymi.
My Flight and Mercy's, still down one, were configured in Strike mode complete with Lance projectors. Quirinus' Flight was configured for air superiority and acted as our escort.
One could argue that a Ritual Plate squadron was rather heavy air support for one supposedly merchant ship.
And that was right. The Legions had loaned us to the Fleet for this joint operation. A Household Fleet Jarngreipr class Frigate with a couple Mulberry Fast Attack Crafts were closing in. They would all stay at a respectable distance while the Spatha Light VTOLs on the Frigate deployed the boarding party. Each Fleet vessel had their own Ritual Plate Combat Air Patrol up just in case.
Which allowed us to act as a dedicated strike package.
Nearby an Alecton Navy Howe class Fleet Missile Cruiser lurked. Their role was less in case the freighter tried to run, or fight, and more in case someone else came in to try and defend it. A squadron out of the cruiser was doing anti-submarine warfare with an admirable degree of paranoia.
"Paymon-flagged freighter, you still need to change course," the dispatcher stated before going to the two other languages.
"They do know they're not going to make it to port, right?" VioletBlood asked over the Flight channel.
"Patience," I cautioned her. I then pushed to her the coordinates of some small ships that had been on station near the port which had moved out. The Crocelli coast guard and revenue ships were a mix of BlackSkyvian and Alecton surplus and were thus a bit smaller than the Mulberries.
Still, it was enough to show the freighter that they had no chance of sneaking in. Now, it was a question of when the freighter's captain and her crew would notice.
It was doubtful that they noticed the pair of Venture scout airships and the single Kolibri shadowing the freighter. The Kolibri patrol airship was configured with a pair of Spatha VTOLs. The Kolibri would provide a backup group of Legionaries to land on the freighter.
"Paymon freighter Sunset Breeze this is your last warning, change your heading and maintain speed," the dispatcher said with only a tiny bit of irritation. Afar she repeated herself in the other languages there was a pause.
I noticed the freighter was still trying to make for the port.
"Primus, ready fire solution." An exasperated voice cut into the Flight command channel.
"Target, Tribune? Quirinus asked.
"Single Lance Strike over the bow. I want their attention, but I don't want them sunk, yet."
"Confirm." Quirinus replied. "Tauria, you can have the honor."
"Yes, Ma'am," I automatically replied. I could see the wisdom in having me take the shot, as opposed to someone like VioletBlood.
I went to my Flight channel. "Okay girls, I've got orders to make a statement. Check your fire, this is a solo warning."
I made sure to get acknowledgment from all the members of my Flight. And then had them follow me as I changed heading to cross the target.
On my display, I mapped out the heading of the Freighter. As my Lance batteries charged, I double-checked the lead. My goal was to get close enough to make a statement, but not so close that I damaged the ship's bow.
"Commencing Strike," I transmitted as I adjusted my aim and checked the location. The composite data from my Gorgon Rig and the various other scrying systems in this task force made the freighter rather clear.
Lances charged, my gauntlets locked, and I fired.
An antic beam shot out and raced down towards the freighter. However it fell short and the massive evocative energy hit the water and blew up in a massive burst of water. It was like a giant depth charge went off just ahead and to the starboard of the freighter. A wave of water went over the ship's bow.
"Paymon freighter Sunset Breeze the next shots will sink you. Change course and prepare for boarding," the dispatcher stated.
I kept in a smile. At about 500 feet in length the Sunset Breeze was on the larger end of a midsize freighter. Officially, it was set up as a dry bulk carrier and would normally carry grain. However, it had some conversions and some of its aft holds could be converted to containerized cargo. It was a less efficient use of tonnage than a dedicated container ship, but it gave some advantage in being able to supply some smaller Minor House Ports.
This was an overwhelming amount of firepower for a single commercial ship.
Which was the point.
Slowly, very slowly the Sunset Breeze changed its heading and started moving away from the coastline.
A few more minutes passed and the Paymon freighter Sunset Breeze reached the instructed heading and held to it.
"Paymon freighter Sunset Breeze prepare to accept an inspection teams. Continue course and speed," the dispatcher said.
I sipped some water as the Spatha Light VTOLs took to the air and started to approach. It wondered if there would be canine units on the inspection teams. Or maybe there would be a clairvoyant with short range remote viewing or maybe a spirit caller. There were a lot of places to hide items on a ship the size of the Sunset Breeze.
"DiamondDust, I want your Flight to do a flyby before the inspectors land," Quirinus ordered.
"Ma'am," I said in a respectfully questioning tone.
My squadron commander laughed. "Tauria, the inspection teams have Sarpedona running escort. I want you to rattle their bridge windows."
"Understood," I said and then went to my Flight channel and passed the orders down as I outlined a flight path.
I cynically wondered if this was a way to test if the Sunset Breeze had air defenses. A pass by my Flight would also get some up-close telemetry and we were faster than the escort RP force.
VioletBlood was eager while Visha and GreyDawn were more reserved. The latter seemed downright suspicious of this whole mission. I could not blame her, a healthy sense of cynicism was a vital survival trait in the Legions.
We accelerated and dropped altitude. The freighter started to get closer and my breathing became regular. The scrying telemetry from our Gorgon Rigs came into even greater resolution. There were a couple crew out on the wings port and starboard of the bridge. They did not seem to be carrying any weapons and were merely standing watch. Which admittedly meant they had to rely on their night vision.
I had our speed top out and we were over mach one. Which would help give an impressive display as we flew over.
"I told you she's still a ballerina at heart," VioletBlood mock whispered to Visha, while pointedly transmitting over the Flight channel.
I pushed down the irritation. "If you have time to joke, you have time to mind your sectors. The brass horns and the spooks have a reason to think this freighter is worth the effort. If you eat a missile because you're distracted, I will be very cross."
"Yes, Ma'am," VioletBlood stated.
We blew over the freighter not much above its antennae and funnels. And true to my Prefect Centurion's wishes our sonic booms made an impression. I was not sure if the glass in the bridge's windows actually rattled but our passing was obvious.
It was all rather heavy-handed. Minor House Paymon was on very good terms with House Alecto. Hence they were the velvet glove while we were displaying the mailed fist. My tension grew as I did not see any weapons installations or threats. I expected them to make a fight of this.
After buzzing over the freighter I had us take to a higher altitude. Quirinus had my flight doing an overwatch of the freighter while the other 2 Flights in our squadron were further out watching for other threats.
The Spatha and their Sarpedona escorts came closer.
"Polyxo Flight this is Spatha Flight Six," a VTOL Pilot drawled.
"Greetings Spatha Flight, this is Diamond Flight," I transmitted.
"Really? Good to finally meet you," another voice cut in, this from the commander of the Ritual Plate escorts. "Word is you've done some solid ground support for some multi-role jockeys."
"We may have to do more work, but at least we get paid the same," I joked.
The Pilots chuckled. "Well said, Diamond." the VTOL pilot noted. "I'm looking over the scrying intake, including that latest flyby. You really believe this thing's just a defenseless freighter?"
I studied the composite intelligence from various sources and played back over time. "My gut says no. But I can't see any data backing up them being armed."
"A Paymon freighter tends to run with escort, at least near House Trosier," the VTOL pilot noted.
"We are a bit far from Trosic waters," the commander of the two Sarpedona Flights sighed. "Given what it took them to change course, I don't think these are simple merchant sailors who got a bit of comms trouble."
"I'll still drop off my girls then," the VTOL pilot noted as the formation continued its intercept path with the freighter.
"We'll be doing overwatch."
"That's great, the inspection team will be thrilled to hear that if things go bad the freighter can be sunk around them," the VTOL pilot chuckled.
"You'll only need my girls if your Sarpedona jockeys can't quite cut it," I said with mock levity.
"How generous," the VTOL Pilot noted. "You two can work out your tail-measuring contest. I've got some Legionaries to land."
The Sarpedona escorts spread out into formation that covered the length of the freighter while keeping them from moving into a full-blown hover. Speed was energy and was useful for defense and mobility.
However, the light VTOLs had to reduce their speed to match the freighter. There was a fairly flat spot aft of the bow-mounted island that held the bridge and much of the crew quarters. The Spatha crossed the freighter on a perpendicular angle and without landing slowed and dropped to a quick low hover.
They stopped long enough to drop off two inspection teams plus a quartet of large canines. Ondani shepherds were energetic, large grey and black working and scent dogs that had some Spitz in their lineage but were a bit shaggier and heavily built.
They were amiable creatures. Though I was fond of dogs in general. I put some more of my attention to keeping an eye on the inspection teams. They immediately split up with one going forward and up to the bridge and another aft and down to the engine room.
They soon got out of sight. Fortunately, I was able to ask the escort RP Flights and get patched into their communications channel. For its size, the Sunset Breeze had a small crew.
Though some of the anxiety was that the freighter might have a surplus of passengers.
Once the ship was secure and the freighter's crew was accounted for the centurion on the scene called in the second set of Spatha Lights and reinforcements were called in.
"If they were going to fight they would have already done it," VioletBlood noted. "Tried to shoot down the VTOLs before they could land troops."
"Maybe they think we won't be able to find whatever contraband the spooks think is on it," GreyDawn said.
"Maybe they're just innocent merchant sailors?" Visha said.
"It's always a possibility. This could all be some misunderstanding." I chuckled. I checked the channel the inspection teams were using and my mirth waned.
"Primus?" Visha asked, noticing my silence on the Flight channel.
"The freighter's full of anti-aircraft weapons. It wasn't even hidden all that well. Mostly House Trosier kit. They haven't found any Ritual Plate so far, but so far there's enough missiles and parts to provide air defense for a brigade or a Legion."
GreyDawn gave a low whistle.
"That's a considerable investment on House Trosier," Visha noted.
"The Diluvians have fired a lot of Toulon missiles at us. No wonder they need more," VioletBlood stated. "I wonder what'll happen to all this hardware?" she mused.
"We'll likely have House Alecto confiscate them and sell them to House Crocelli."
GreyDawn chuckled. "Crocelli is hungry for arms and Alecto can offer them a great deal."
"While giving us a cut," VioletBlood murmured.
"Do we get prize money for seized goods?" Visha asked.
"It's complicated," I said. The tradition was more among the Household Fleet, but we had played a role. "We could qualify for shares of the sale price, but I wouldn't make any big purchases."
"You're saying you won't get a big slice for being the ones who got the freighter to change course?" VioletBlood asked.
"I'm merely a Ritual Plate pilot following orders. It was House Alecto with that mighty cruiser who provided the big guns," I stated. "Clearly they deserve getting the lion's share."
As my Flight gave a little chuckle. I checked with Quirinus. We were to keep providing support for the Sarpedona Ritual Plate escorting the inspection teams.
I felt my tension ease a bit. I worried that someone might have the ship rigged to blow up. Also my concerns that we might have run into withering anti-air fire was true... in a way.
Despite all that, the crew seemed to be docile enough. Which was understandable. House Alecto was close with their smaller neighbor House Paymon. It would require an inquest to determine what laws had been broken and the culpability of the crew.
And there was always a chance that House Alecto could repatriate them to House Paymon. Especially if the mercantile Great House wanted to make a deal with the Minor House. Alecto was very interested in keeping Paymon in their sphere of influence.
Suddenly, dozens of missiles launched several miles to the north out of an anonymous part of the sea. They skimmed over the waves and rapidly accelerated. Alarms began to sound. Markers came up onto my display and Flight Ops started giving out alerts.
VTOLs and Ritual Plate were already being routed to the launch site but the missiles were already in the air. Still, they might be able to drop charges on the enemy submarine.
"General Quarters, General Quarters. All hands to battle stations. Set condition Zeta through the ship. Incoming, incoming. All pilots be advised, anti-missile systems are Weapons Free," came the overriding voice of the task force's commander before the comms channels devolved down into control by individual Flight Ops directors.
The Alecton Howe class missile cruiser and our Mulberry Fast Attack Craft were under attack. And per the alert's words, the counter-missile fire from the naval assets was going to prioritize saving their ships. Woe to any RP Pilot who got between launching an incoming missile and a weapon system trying to intercept it. The counter-missiles would try to avoid friendly fire and our comms and IFF was rather solid, but their concern was protecting the more expensive, and more populous, ship.
It seemed the Trosic Armada had at least one submarine, more likely two, shadowing the freighter and it objected to our actions.
"We have incoming enemy Ritual Plate," one of our Pilots who had been on anti-submarine patrol stated her voice calm and crisp. "Multiple squadrons of Baptiste strike RP escorted by Rochefort air superiority."
I took a moment to study the map display before we got our orders. The Trosic missiles were the first wave. The Ritual Plate was the follow-up wave. And about half of them were vectoring toward the Sunset Breeze.
I exhaled and put on a grin. "Squadron command, this is Diamond Flight, request permission to intercept."
End Chapter 14
The beach episode, and really the pilots have earned a bit of a break.
Thanks to DCG , ellfangor8 , Green Sea, Readhead, and Preier for checking and reading over this chapter.
Special thanks to ScarletFox for the wonderful omake series that has some great character growth and covers much of this same R&R and beach relaxation.
I hope to have the next chapter of the mainline Return Story (ch5 of Book 6 Bonding Allure) out soon, I'm editing that as we speak.
There's also some wonderful fanart waiting in the wings.
