Author's Note (April 14, 2021):
Just recently, I had secured a plastic model kit for the Edelweiss from Volks, which features a relatively detailed layout of the tank's interior. Unfortunately, this - along with my recent, embarrassing realization that the Edelweiss actually has no loader's hatch at the top of the turret (this feature belongs to the Nameless Tank) - means that I'll have to make some notable changes to a segment of this chapter.
Thank you for your understanding.
/
Donghae Mining Complex, Empire of Kokuria, Diarchy of Kokuria-Yamatai
April 12, 1933 EC
Warrant Officer Batory Dmovski
707th Special Weapons and Operations Reconnaissance Detachment, KISHIN
Temporarily Attached to the 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade, Diarchic Black Army
Despite not formally being of the mostly Viszevaric Black Army, Batory was invited to attend an assembly of its 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade just outside the legally defined limits of the Donghae Mining Complex. Despite his half-hearted protests to Brigadier Januszajtis that he would not be so arrogant as to participate in the unit traditions of the 1st Mechanized as he was not formally one of them, the Crow was nevertheless coaxed into participating by the command staff.
As Januszajtis and his direct subordinates pointed out, Batory was a Viszevar and he would soon fight alongside the regular men – and women, oddly enough for a Kokurian or Yamataian line unit – of the all-Viszevaric 1st Mechanized. As far as Januszajtis and his command team were concerned, Batory was one of them and they would be honored if they could have a KISHIN officer of their shared heritage stand for review on what they knew to be the eve of battle. With this, Batory finally agreed to join Januszajtis in addressing the brigade.
The sun was quickly setting in the distance over the dry, dusty horizon of Manju, the northern steppes of Kokuria, as the men of the 1st Mechanized stood at parade attention in their black tunics at their designated location. An impromptu podium and a loudspeaker system were erected at the front of the grounds; soon, Batory and the brigade's command section gathered there, lining up parallel to the ranks of their subordinates. At 1900 hours, Januszajtis finally climbed the podium and began delivering what would be immortalized as the "Lighting of the Pyre", a fiery speech in which he broke the news of the now-inevitable war against the Imperials over the Donghae Mining Complex and exhorted them to "burn the Imperials as the witches they are and as they deserve".
Granted, Januszajtis used far more vulgar language for most of the speech, but the papers had to romanticize it and scrub it clean for public consumption.
Batory stood at ease at the far right end of the row of command officers. Under his gas mask and helmet, he listened passively to Januszajtis's passionate delivery of his words, reminding all the troops of the historical arrogance and avarice of the Empire in destroying their haza (1) and having the gall to demand additional lands it never had any historical claim to. Batory already knew to hate the Imperial; he didn't need anyone else to remind him of that.
However, Batory could not help but pay close attention to the closing of the Lighting of the Pyre, as Januszajtis stopped stoking the flames of hatred in the hearts of the 1st Mechanized and instead took a tone of unity and encouragement. Januszajtis told his men how proud he was of every single one of them, as many of them came from outside the Diarchy and agreed to become a Diarchic Viszevar for the purpose of continuing the Viszevaric tradition and the Viszevaric fight against the Imperial hordes. The men of the 1st Mechanized and the Black Army overall had spilled much blood, sweat, and tears to maintain their readiness as the stalwart defenders of the Diarchy and the legacy of Viszevary; with few other units, Januszajtis proclaimed, would he ever serve.
Januszajtis's very final statements in particular would resonate with Batory for the rest of his life. While he wouldn't have time to internalize these words until just before the big operation that ultimately sent him to the medical station, Batory would ultimately digest these words and take them to heart in the aftermath of the Border War. It gave him some measure of comfort; most importantly, it slightly but fundamentally reshaped his approach.
"None of you will stand alone in the field against the Imperial," roared Januszajtis. "You have alongside you right here and will have alongside you in the trenches and the fields untold thousands of your Viszevaric brothers, and untold tens of thousands of your Kokurian and Yamataian brothers!"
The plains of Manju shook with the vibrations of thousands of small arms as their owners pounded them into the grass and dirt in agreement.
"You have at home your mothers, your wives, your families who pray that you kill the Imperial! You have in our new sacred land the beating hearts of 100 million sons and daughters of the Diarchy who pray to the Heavens that you show the invaders your fury!"
More thumping.
"You have with you the will of a great power, the wrath of your homeland's earth!"
The vibrations only grew stronger. Now there were shouts of agreement coming from the crowd.
"Stand with your brothers and you will be as indomitable as the White Mountains! Stand and fight together, and we shall throw back the Imperials through the gates of Hell!"
The field shook and trembled under the onslaught of the wild cheers of thousands of Viszevars, but Batory paid no mind to that. He was too busy processing Januszajtis's words, finding meaning in them. He closed his eyes under cover of his opaque gas mask lens.
Stand with your brothers.
The field continued to shake with the righteous fury of the 1st Mechanized and the collective chants of HABORU! (2) Batory still stood as he was, eyes closed and still as a statue. He swore he would never forget this. No matter how the difficult the situation was, no matter how deep in despair he may find himself, Batory swore to remember the words of Januszajtis.
Stand and fight together, and we shall win.
/
Vasel, Principality of Gallia
April 13, 1935 EC
Corporal Batory Andrzejevski
Squad 1, Gallian Militia 3rd Company
Batory sat on a chair on the uppermost floor of a building overlooking the Vasel River, unfazed from the quick, brutal, and victorious assault on the Imperial troops who had managed to establish a temporary spearhead on the Gallian bank of the river. Casualties had been minimal for Squad 1 and Squad 7, but that was mainly due to the sheer speed and surprise of the attack. By any standards, it was a very satisfying result for units that had only been organized and equipped a mere month ago, ending a standoff in the space of a couple of days that had cost the Gallian regular forces two weeks.
Batory almost found it disappointing. The Imperials caught on the western side of the Vasel River never anticipated the Militia to be so heavily armed and so aggressive; their guard was completely down. With the help of Squad 7's very unique command tank and Squad 7 taking first crack at the spearhead, the Imperial defenders were quickly overwhelmed. The Imperials' last platoon of aging light tanks assigned to help maintain this foothold were taken apart in relatively short order, their eviscerated crewmen being hauled out with missing parts and in various degrees of incineration.
However, not all was great with the 3rd Company, either. While the end results of the day's battle were spectacular, the negative effects of the Militia's rushed training began manifesting themselves. Squad 6 in particular was hit hard by the Imperial tank platoon, the Gallian command light tank being jack-in-the-boxed after an Imperial 45 mm shell detonated the ammo racks. The Gallian tank had failed to take advantage of proper cover, as did good quarter of the platoon that kept huddling behind and around it that instantly went down with the tank as its turret flew out from its chassis; the exploding tank caused them to scatter like headless chickens into the main thoroughfare, right into the Imperial lanes of fire. Squad 5 also reported a fair few cases of friendly fire due to the general chaos of the battle and their lack of proper fire coordination.
Despite these teething issues, Vasel was secure; Batory was relatively confident that the survivors would become good soldiers fairly quickly from their lessons learned. Now that their side of the river was secure, all of the Squads were ordered to hold fast and assume defensive positions in case the Empire attempted a counter-attack, at least until they received new orders. Both units were more than happy to oblige due to the unique obstacle that stared them both in the face, with sporadic skirmishing and the occasional death being inflicted. Batory certainly was staring at it now from behind a window and through the pair of binoculars every Scout received.
The Vasel River wasn't necessarily the widest river that Batory had ever encountered, but it was most definitely a formidable barrier for any offensive maneuvers in the present. The Crow estimated it to be roughly 100 meters wide, with no obviously visible shallow crossings in the immediate vicinity. The only direct method of crossing the river without breaking out the amphibious assault crafts was the Great Vasel Bridge, a magnificent drawbridge which was now playing unwilling host to multiple Imperial light tanks and a gaggle of steel-clad infantry who seemed oblivious to the fact that their style of apparel was more suited for war a half-millennium ago.
Batory questioned the usefulness of parking infantry and vehicles in such an obviously exposed position. But then again, 3rd Company command had apparently made it clear to all Squad commanders that the bridge had to be captured intact to allow an easier Gallian counterattack east. Likewise, the Empire almost certainly needed the bridge intact for its own continued offensives toward Randgriz. The Imperial tankers seemingly knew what they were doing.
While the warrant officer had suggested to Landzaat an hour and a half prior somewhat in a forlorn hope that they raise the drawbridge from their own side of the river to drown the Imperials, they had found out that the Imperials had also considered this possibility and planned accordingly. The drawbridge controls at the western end of the bridge were completely smashed, with Engineers Jung (Squad 1) and Landzaat (Squad 7, apparently no relation to Lt. Landzaat) confirming that they were beyond the Engineers' abilities to repair with the tools they had on hand. Even Shocktrooper Hawkins (Squad 1), a machinist in civilian life, couldn't do anything about it.
No one ever accused the Imperials of being mentally deficient, Batory had sworn under his breath soon after he had received the damage report. We only ever accused them of being greedy little shits with their own questionable combat gear.
The other bank of the river was naturally heavily defended, both sides staring angrily across the river and taking potshots until the heavy artillery arrived and unlimbered. In their haste to get to Vasel, the vanguards of both armies had outrun their artillery support. Batory's binoculars allowed him to spot at least a half-dozen Imperial light tanks parked and powered down in what used to be a building; with a little concentration, he could detect the presence of what seemed to be half a company of Imperial infantry bunkering in the various half-ruined buildings and in their command tents set up in the square.
The Valkyrur cultists' sacred texts proclaimed the abilities of the Valkyrur to purify Ragnite and bend it to their will to perform wondrous feats. Their mythical, inherent ability to synchronize with Ragnite in all of its forms still was beyond human comprehension. While Tianzhu (3) or "Caelite", the less potent and purple variant of the comparatively rare blue Ragnite that seeded the Asian countryside in relatively copious amounts, seemed to constantly counteract Ragnite in many ways, it too influenced a select few individuals similarly as Ragnite did these superwomen.
Rather than allowing for displays of raw offensive power such as emitting blasts of energy or actively reshaping Ragnite with a simple touch as the Yggdists claimed their goddesses could do, Caelite allegedly allowed for unparalleled situational awareness, to allow for detection of living people and even their actions and intentions based on the Ragnite or Caelite infused into their systems. Asian mythology recorded no legions of female demigods who could shape Caelite with only a thought or set entire regions ablaze in their heated fury. Instead, it sang the praises and uttered the condemnations of shadowy individuals – male and female – who could sneak into secured compounds, perform their deeds heroic or malicious, and sneak out without a trace. These heroes and villains could allegedly see people as bright silhouettes in their vision even behind solid obstacles, reflecting their life energy; they could sense what they could do; and they could evade them more than easily with these wondrous powers. Anyone who did run against them and stood their ground to fight was easily cut down with bright purple claws of energy – or so the myths went.
Interestingly, Caelite and Ragnite responded to the same set of stimuli, even while they constantly fought to suppress the other. They combusted at very similar temperatures, reacted to other elements in very similar ways and created very similar compounds, and even provided false positives when testing for trace elements of the other in laboratory work. Caelite and Ragnite were two sides of the same coin at their most basic.
As KISHIN found out after years of experimentation that had well crossed every acceptable moral and ethical boundaries years ago, the Asian legends of these Caelite-powered warriors were real. Out of a hundred subjects, only eight remained – and Batory was one of them. Combined with the scientific observations on the relationship between Ragnite and Caelite, KISHIN's work meant that Batory could detect people's presence just by their Ragnite and Caelite infusion… how absolutely deluged were they in it. Europans were always around Ragnite byproducts – lamp oil, medical equipment, Ragnoline fuel, Ragnite-infused alloys. Over time, it would become an indelible part of them. And there the Imperial infantry were on the other bank, their silhouettes glowing bluish lavender in the distance. Ragnite-treated steel armor and weapons, Ragnaid first aid kits, and even the food and drink they consumed through their Ragnite-treated steel mess kits made the Imperials metaphorically glow in the dark.
It was almost too easy to see them. It certainly made the suffering at Seongnam worth it.
9:00 Ally Range 10 No Action
Batory sensed someone coming up the stairs to his left, someone on his own side. It was indeed a core element of his Caelite conditioning and enhanced reflexes, always telling him what to look out for. But whom it was exactly that was walking up the stairs, he didn't know until the door swung open and they started talking.
It was Sgt. Valt, Squad 1's platoon sergeant. The warrant officer didn't mind him too much; despite being only 16, Ramal Valt was a very capable Shocktrooper and a loyal soldier. He was quite admirable all around, except for one problem. The Crow wondered whether his attachment to Landzaat was a bit… too much.
"All right, Bat," Valt said, the frustration in his voice seemingly reflected by his relatively unkempt hair. "Are those Imps doing anything we should know?"
Batory remained unmoving, his binoculars still positioned in front of his face. "… No, sir… The Imps are happy to stay where they are."
By this point, the Crow stopped caring that seemingly everyone in the Militia just referred to him as "Batory" or even shorter nicknames. Apparently his fake surname was too hard to pronounce. That's fair, he had thought eventually. Viszevary's greatest strength and weakness is its complex language. And I wouldn't know how much time I'd personally spend trying to get their names correct.
Valt, taking extra care to avoid the windows as much as he could out of reflex, approached Batory and half-crouched down next to him. He tapped his subordinate on his shoulder and motioned for the binoculars, which he received immediately and without a word. Valt took a look across the river for himself and after a long moment, he let out a frustrated sigh.
"How screwed are we, man?"
"… Clarify that for me, sir."
"Fa- Landzaat just got word that the Militia is being ordered to seize the opposite bank." Valt said, barely disguising his disgust with the binoculars still glued to his face. "We're going to have to be the first wave in retaking East Vasel. The Army wants its guys fresh for whatever comes later."
Batory raised his eyebrows for an instant and then returned his face to the same emotionless mask he wore out of habit. Of course the GHQ would order such a thing; he was expecting it. "… The longer we stay put, the more screwed we are," he replied. "… A full tank platoon over there, maybe two, based on their motor pool."
Valt continued to scan the Imperial camp for several more moments, and handed Batory his binoculars back with a guttural hrrrm.
"All right, I see the same," snapped Valt. "Keep watching them and let Faldio or me know if anything changes," He was apparently bothered by the orders enough to let the mask slip and refer to the lieutenant by his first name again.
Batory ignored the tone of his voice; it was natural that he was frustrated. The Militia was being sent to act as a meat shield for more valuable units. From the Viszevar's fatalistic perspective, this deployment and logic made sense for him. But for a young Europan like Valt who actually had a life and dreams outside war, this order was understandably incomprehensible – even morally bankrupt.
"… All right." With that, Batory returned the binoculars to his eyes and returned to his routine of Imperial-watching. He heard Valt get up and walk to the door, the boots thumping loudly on the wooden floor. However, Batory didn't hear the door open. He immediately sensed that Valt had stopped.
"Hey, Batory," Valt said, a bit apologetically this time even while quickly lowering his stance once more to present a smaller target to the other side. Batory removed the binoculars from his face and turned to look at the platoon sergeant.
"… Sir."
"I wanted to say thanks for saving Hawkins today," Valt continued. "I told him that he needed to stop screwing around with his damned Mags, but he didn't listen. Idiot should have died on the spot, and he could have gotten me and Cheslock killed as well."
Batory shrugged. "… It's nothing, sir… I'm merely doing my job."
This was true, of course. What Batory decided against saying to Valt, however, was the fact that the Imperial Shocktrooper he had turned into a statistic earlier that day had also suffered a failure to feed. Batory didn't exactly know how else to interpret the man's frantic racking of the bolt on his submachine gun as he immediately swung his Gallian-1 around to engage the Imperial and put a 7.92mm round in his head. Even if Batory didn't kill him, someone else would have.
The Crow received at that moment another uncomfortable reminder that he was still young and his skills still a work in progress. Actively watching out for his platoon mates was definitely something he would have to work on, even if he had by this point fully internalized Januszajtis's words from two years ago.
I'm not perfect, and perhaps it's a disgrace, Batory thought. But better to try and fix myself than to not try at all. They need this.
Hell, I need this.
Valt nodded and gave a pursed smile. "Keep up the good work, right? Try and scare Hawkins for me into actually leaving his gun alone for once." With that, Valt finally left the room, his boots echoing in the stairwell as he descended to ground level.
Batory looked back out the window. The Imperial-watching continued.
But how exactly to push the Imperials off the opposite bank with the limited resources on hand, and all before the Imperials brought their famous artillery to bear?
/
Vasel, Principality of Gallia
April 14, 1935 EC
Corporal Batory Andrzejevski
Squad 1, Gallian Militia 3rd Company
Temporarily Attached to Squad 7, Gallian Militia 3rd Company
At the sight of a lone flare being launched from the opposite bank, Squad 7 left the halfway point on the Vasel River under cover of a thick fog, finishing their trip across onboard small rowboats and the occasional rubber assault raft. Their objective was to move as quietly as they could under fog cover and reach the opposite shore roughly 100 meters to the south of the Imperial end of the Great Vasel Bridge to take the Imperial garrison completely by surprise. To maintain the element of surprise and hindered by the fact that regular Gallian light tanks were unable to ford rivers, the rest of the company agreed to remain on the west bank, ready to spot incoming Imperial reinforcements and provide suppressing fire on the bridge and the opposite bank in support of Squad 7.
However, Batory wasn't actually with his unit. Alongside another Scout from Squad 1, Pfc. Mayfield, Batory was tasked with accompanying Squad 7's Lt. Gunther in traversing the river ahead of the platoons and neutralizing any Imperial sentries that were able to recover fast enough from the shock of seeing a tank suddenly rise out of the riverbed. As soon as the waterproofed Edelweiss breached the surface of the water, Gunther would give the command to Batory and Mayfield to exit the tank and quietly neutralize any Imperial infantry they encountered within reach. Afterwards, they were to assist Gunther's unit in neutralizing the Imperial presence in the area and secure the drawbridge.
Landzaat had apparently recommended to Gunther the previous evening that he take Batory and Mayfield in particular. Squad 7 had no veteran light infantrymen in its ranks and virtually no EWI veterans, and these two Scouts were whom Landzaat had on hand with any considerable deal of prior combat experience in infiltration tactics. In Musaad Mayfield's own boastful words, he had served in the trenches of EWI and quickly became renowned as "the Mole" for his unyielding tenacity in the defensive. Batory, of course, downplayed his experience considerably by merely saying he fought in the Border War for a month or two before he finally got shot. Based on the fact that he was in a tank approaching the east bank of the river instead of in a building on the west bank, the Crow thought it safe to assume that Gunther took his friend's advice.
The Edelweiss was mostly quiet save for the humming engine and Gunther speaking to his driver, commending her on successfully waterproofing the tank even as water started to dribble inside in small quantities. Mayfield stayed quiet as he double-checked his combat webbing and in particular his sharpened spade, apparently a habit from the first war. Batory was eager to return the silence – not because he had nothing to say and not even because he struggled with social ineptitude, but because he was busy analyzing the vehicle.
Quite frankly, the Edelweiss was the most advanced combat vehicle he had ever been in; as he had entered the tank a few minutes prior, Batory spotted what seemed to be an autoloader system and an integrated secondary gun laying system at the commander's seat. The Crow had definitely studied and even operated tanks of all types as part of his training back in Seongnam, analyzing vehicles from the Diarchy, the Federation, and the Empire as a means of understanding how to drive them and kill them as the situation required. But whatever tank Batory was sitting in at that moment was more advanced than whatever line combat vehicle any great power had as far as he knew or what KISHIN let on it knew. He determined to study this tank as much as he could get away with, just in case.
On the other side of the gun breech was a mostly non-descript gunner, evidently taken from the very large pool of volunteers seeking a tank that didn't look like it had about as much armor as a tool shed. Batory had no clue regarding the identity of this gunner other than he was apparently from the United States of Vinland and that the competition to see who got to crew the Edelweiss was extremely hotly contested. Looking at Gunther's driver, a young Darscen girl of roughly Valt's age, Batory could see around her a fairly ergonomic set-up with a series of radios and simplified driver's controls.
"Musaad, Batory," Gunther spoke aloud to the two Scouts. Batory didn't fail to notice that even compared to Landzaat, Gunther was much more informal whenever he could be as indicated by the use of Mayfield's first name.
Is this why Valt doesn't like him all that much?
"Surfacing in 30 seconds, get ready!"
Mayfield and Batory both acknowledged and took their positions. The latter rose from his place and crouched next to the Darcsen girl ahead of the former to prepare for a rapid exit through what seemed to be the hull's emergency hatch. While the Edelweiss was apparently supposed to have a reserve ammo rack holding nine shells at that spot, Gunther and his tank crew had evidently removed it specially for this operation. Batory heard from behind him Mayfield making ready to go, the Gallian veteran's spade lightly clanking against the tank's many metal surfaces.
25 seconds. Batory tracked the time in his mind – he needed every second he could get once the tank surfaced.
He glanced up to where he assumed the riverbank rose, and soon made out two bright silhouettes in his field of vision and above him. Two Imperial sentries stood on that bank, seemingly having no idea that a 30-ton tank was about to end their lives in the most unexpected of manners. He almost felt sorry for them.
20 seconds.
"Trying to see them through the water?"
Relinquishing his concentration with a quick blink of his eyes, Batory turned his head and found the indigo-haired driver glancing at him with a small smile, a Darscen hexagonal-patterned shawl around her shoulders. "I can't see anything useful through the viewport," she smirked.
He shrugged nonchalantly. "… Worth a try, right?"
The driver gave a small laugh, nonchalantly wiping some leaking water off of her forehead. "Yes, I suppose so."
15 seconds.
"Musaad, Batory, wait until I call the targets," ordered Gunther, his attention still focused on looking outside through his cupola. "We won't have much of a window of opportunity to take them quietly, so let's see where they are before you bail out."
10 seconds.
"Just so you know," the driver spoke to the warrant officer again, although she also wanted Mayfield to hear based on her louder voice this time around. "Once the Edelweiss hits the bank incline, it'll be a rough ride. Hang onto something just in case."
"… Right," murmured the Crow as he immediately reached for the closest solid handhold he could find bolted onto the hull. He heard Mayfield mutter in agreement behind him and sensed the man also grabbing ahold of anything he could find secured to the chassis.
5 seconds.
"So your name is Batory?" The driver spoke to Batory again. "For future reference."
The Viszevar turned to her one last time. He decided to just give her his first name since no one seemingly bothered with the last one. "… Yes."
The girl smiled. "Well, good luck out there, Batory."
The Viszevar did his best to return the smile. "… You as well."
The Darscen girl, still beaming, looked back to her viewport but then immediately and involuntarily tensed up – for good reason.
At that moment, as she had said would happen, the Edelweiss suddenly lurched as it hit the slope of the bank, gaining in speed as it breached the surface of the water and hit dry soil. Gunther immediately called out two targets to the sides of the Edelweiss as it made landfall. Batory, firing up his concentration once more, noted that there actually was only one sentry left, having been knocked prone to the left; judging by his sluggish recovery, he was suffering tank shock.
The other one, based on how his presence was right in front of the warrant officer and then immediately disappeared, was simply bludgeoned to death by the tank before he had a chance to react. No one saw the man get pulverized.
"Batory, left!" Gunther immediately started to bark orders. "Go now!"
The two Squad 1 soldiers were already moving, Batory forcefully swinging the reserve hatch open with his right hand and smoothly propelling himself over the top of the Edelweiss's hull. Evading the waterproofing around the muzzle of the gun and unsheathing his sword bayonet as he hit the riverbank, he rapidly repositioned himself to the tank's left to retire the sentry Gunther assigned him. Behind him, Mayfield stormed out of the tank like a man possessed, swearing quietly to himself and hauling his body over to the right side of the vehicle.
The Viszevar saw the Imperial Shocktrooper marked for him already starting to scramble back up to at least a sitting position. His ZM MP submachine gun was still out of his grasp, something Batory took full advantage of. As his reflexes kicked in, time seemed to slow for the Crow as he saw the Imperial reach desperately for his firearm. In an instant, he rushed up to the Shocktrooper while the latter was still unarmed and kicked him hard and fast in the neck to drive him back into the soft dirt; Batory heard a distinct crack from his victim as the glow of life began to fade from his view. Moments later, Batory slammed his Diarchic bayonet through the man's distinctly unarmored visor. One soft but sickening crunch and one brief spasm later, the Imperial Shocktrooper was confirmed dead, his body emitting no silhouette at all.
He knew that he didn't need to drive the bayonet into the Imperial's skull, but it was better safe than sorry. Nothing in life ever was truly and completely reliable.
"… Jeok pagwe," muttered the Crow under his breath in Kokurian. Enemy destroyed.
Rapidly scanning to see if any other targets were nearby and satisfied that no hostiles had actually seen or even heard the brief struggle, Batory removed the bayonet from the dead man's eye socket with a wet schlorp. Giving the bayonet a hard shake to rid it of most of the material staining the blade, the Crow then wiped the blood, eyeball fluid, and brain matter from the blade by running it over the dead Shocktrooper's unarmored sleeves.
Putting his bayonet back into its sheath, Batory turned back to the Edelweiss to see Gunther sitting up in the commander's cupola and Mayfield with entrenching tool in hand just now making his way across the front of the Edelweiss. Batory simply gestured to the veteran soldier with a quick pull of his thumb across his throat. Moments later, preceded by a nod of approval and a knowing smirk, Mayfield turned and hissed loudly at Gunther.
"All clear."
The lieutenant acknowledged the kill confirmations with a short nod and then pulled out what was very clearly a flare gun.
"The Edelweiss swims just fine."
With these words, Gunther raised the flare gun high into the sky and fired. The Militia was now truly committed to this assault.
/
The Imperials truly had no idea what had happened. One moment, they saw no movement across the bridge, and sat secure in the belief that the Gallians surely wouldn't put their beloved bridge in danger by trying to storm it head-on, fog or no fog. Sure, there was a flare that was launched and a muffled series of small sharp cracks, but no one from the west bank actually started firing and all posts reported no casualties. The stand-down order was issued quite quickly.
The next moment, rifle shots rang out from their left flank; several Ragnoline canisters immediately exploded in one of the tank parking lots. The detonations knocked out a pair of tanks before they ever had a chance to power up and obliterated a few scattered Imperial infantry, whose bodies were subsequently flung into the air like discarded, bloody rag dolls. A minute later, the forward elements of the Gallian Militia materialized into view as if they were borne of the fog itself, accompanied by a tank none of the Imperials present had ever seen before.
The entire Imperial camp was thrown into disarray.
/
Squad 7 was split into two halves, each half given different assignments. Gunther was to take Sgt. Melchiott's Scouts and the newly promoted Cpl. Stark's Shocktroopers to storm the last intact drawbridge control hut located at the intersection of West Riverside Street and Randgriz Boulevard as soon as possible, using the momentum of the Edelweiss to brush aside any opposition and kill any Imperial too stupid to run. Sgt. Potter's Lancers, Engineers, and two of the Snipers were given the task of screening Squad 7's right flank to eliminate any Imperial tanks to the east of the main axis of advance. Taking a longer way around to bypass the Imperial headquarters located on Randgriz Blvd., Potter's unit was then to form a defensive line at the intersection of Randgriz and Highplot Lane, facing east to cut off any potential Imperial reinforcements from disrupting the operations.
Mayfield and Batory, being temporarily attached Scouts, were to take point and escort Potter's smaller flanking force.
The task was ultimately easier than it had any right to be due to the Imperials being caught completely flat-footed. Resistance was disjointed at best; isolated pockets of Imperial troops organized themselves into ad hoc fireteams and returned fire erratically into the fog, nowhere enough to suppress either Gallian subunit for long.
Having since retrieved his Gallian-1 from the Edelweiss's interior, Batory soon found himself taking point with Mayfield and Engineer Peron, staying roughly fifteen meters ahead of the group and as far away from the center of the avenue as he could manage. Reaching the intersection of East Third Street and Highplot Lane, the closest Imperial rally point being reduced to ashes by Squad 7 through the Ragnoline explosions, he and Mayfield halted at the northeast corner of the intersection and took cover among the trees planted there; Peron took cover at the northwest corner to overwatch the right. Only needing a scant second to catch his breath and sneaking out to the corner of the building they found themselves next to, Batory swept his carbine in a wide arc to cover his immediate field of fire and scan for targets.
He didn't like what he found. Even without the use of his scanning, Batory could see the brilliant blue glow of a tank radiator behind a pile of rubble to his 11:00, as well as a completely unpowered light tank. The active tank, thankfully for the Viszevar's unit, was also facing its 11:00, seemingly completely unaware that it was being outflanked. Further out, Batory could detect an Imperial soldier hiding in the top floor of the building located on the northwestern corner of Randgriz and Highplot.
Sniper, he deduced. Few other infantry classes would probably bother to hide up that high and that far back.
The Imperial Sniper was busy lining up shots on Gunther's subunit, looking down Lowplot Lane. As a result of this, and the fact that he was hidden behind a wall, Batory decided he couldn't actually tell anyone else about this.
It turned out right then and there that he didn't have to tell anyone at all; a sharp, distinct crack of a Gallian GSR-series sniper rifle suddenly rang out from the west the instant Batory resigned himself to keeping the Sniper's presence to himself, and the Sniper's presence vanished instantly. The Crow had an idea regarding who took the shot. Potter had ordered his platoon's third Sniper to overwatch the entire unit from the rear, and she was extraordinarily skilled to the point where even the drill sergeant had nothing bad to say.
One fewer problem for us, then.
Batory immediately shifted his attention to ground level, and scanned the smaller streets directly to the east of his position… only to find them deserted. The Crow was genuinely surprised. He expected at bare minimum a few scattered Imperial infantry rushing forward to aid their brothers. There weren't any at all.
Was this attack actually so much of a surprise that there aren't any reinforcements coming in? Even after all of the noise?
The Scout then detected and heard another person catch up to him and the others, stacking up behind the trees as well in a noisy fashion. Looking back for a split second, he found Potter right beside him on his left dressed in Lancer blast armor and resting a massive anti-tank lance over his shoulder.
"What do you see, boys?" Potter asked with a slight casual tone and cigarette in mouth. Largo Potter was a veteran of the first war; he was used to close-quarters combat and as such, was more confident in his movements and speech than most of the others in his ad-hoc unit. It was little wonder then that he was quickly promoted to the rank of NCO in his platoon.
"… Two tanks to our 11:00 behind the rubble, one unpowered." Batory answered, gesturing with his left hand in the general direction of the glowing radiator. "… Nothing to the east."
"That building to our 1:00," Mayfield followed up, pointing with his carbine to a large, half-ruined building directly to the east of the spotted tank. "It looks empty, let's sweep it and use it as a firebase."
Potter nodded, and then motioned for the rest of the team to get to his position. The other Lancer, a chiseled man named Walker, did so with unusual alacrity.
"Walker, Landzaat, you're going with me to that intersection in front of us," ordered the veteran. "Get that tank, and then hold behind that wall until the rest of us can clear Randgriz and Highplot."
Walker and Landzaat nodded, Walker in particular looking particularly eager to impress Potter. Potter then turned to the rest of the team. "Battery, take the rest of these jokers here and take that building. Start shooting the Imps around the drawbridge control once you get settled in."
That's another person who can't pronounce my fake surname… or my real first, noted Batory as he silently nodded at Potter's orders. It can't be helped.
"All right," concluded Potter with a grin and a crack of his neck. "Let's get this done." With a wave of his hand, his fireteam dashed out in the direction of the Imperial tank to ambush and destroy it. Batory turned his attention to the rest of the unit. He knew there wasn't anyone there that was still alive in the building, but he couldn't just say that – not when there was no way he could have known that just by looking at it. He was going to remark on how that building could have been used as a base of fire in support of Gunther, but Mayfield the veteran was quicker to the draw.
"… Prepare to move." Batory raised his voice over the increasingly loud cacophony of battle. It seemed that now, the rest of the 3rd Company had begun to open fire to suppress the Imperials on the bridge. "… Snipers take the roof, Mayfield and Peron the ground floor."
I'm taking the second floor for myself. I need to shoot something.
All of the remaining Squad 7 members in the intersection confirmed, showing varying levels of enthusiasm. The two Snipers remaining were apparently eager to show their value, and Peron was seemingly happy to run into harm's way based on his odd cherubic smile. Batory already knew Mayfield was up for the task.
Batory slung his carbine over his shoulder and pulled out his Archer pistol, switching the safety off. After all, even if the building was empty, he needed to show that he cared very much about how to clear buildings, and no one else knew that the building was already clear. A carbine using full-powered rifle rounds in a building that relatively compact would not do.
Just then, the Viszevar saw a cloud of dust and sparks flying to his 11:00 as Potter and Walker both fired their anti-tank lances into the rear of the Imperial tank. Their task was done; it was now up to him.
"Go."
/
The building, as Batory knew and Mayfield suspected all along, for some reason never had any Imperial soldiers at all. Nevertheless, it soon buzzed with activity as if it were an angry beehive. The Snipers rushed to the roof as ordered, Mayfield and Peron secured the bottom floor to clear the path for Potter's team, and Batory commandeered the second floor of the building as a way to split any incoming fire across all three levels. In short order, Batory could hear the Snipers above him starting to pick out targets of opportunity, prioritizing any remaining Imperial Snipers or Lancers in the general area of Gunther's expected avenue of assault.
As the Edelweiss came into view and Stark's Shocktroopers started to gun down any survivors in the Imperial command post just a strong stone's throw away from where he was, Batory too started to pick off targets with his carbine as he saw them from the middle floor. He was alone on this floor. Batory had been waiting very long for this moment – now he could do the task he was molded to perform. The Gallian 7.92 mm cartridge was substantially more powerful than the Diarchic 7.7 mm or the 6.5 mm, but his deceptively monstrous strength was enough to easily negate the increased recoil as he loosed rounds as fast as the weapon allowed him.
Batory took cover behind the corner of a window overlooking the Great Vasel Bridge. Confirming an engagement range of just approximately 50 meters, he took aim and went to work.
The first victim of Batory's rifle fire was an Imperial Engineer who was trying desperately to get as close to Gunther's avenue of advance as possible, crouch sprinting across Randgriz Blvd. in an erratic pattern to try and get to the wall of what used to be one of the Empire's tank parks. Batory shot the Engineer after an initial ranging shot, seeing the glow of life disappear instantly as the bullet punched cleanly into the man's head. The Imperial slumped to the ground as if he were a puppet with all of its strings cut at once.
Enemy destroyed.
"One shot, one kill" was the ideal, but given the nature of his carbine and the fact that the Imperials were constantly ducking and weaving from being attacked in two directions now, Batory had to settle for "good enough". The Gallian-1 may have required fiddling around with magazines, but he had many rounds to spare and at least at that moment, he didn't have to worry about putting empty magazines back into their pouches.
As most of Squad 7 started to pour into Randgriz Blvd., a Shocktrooper emerged from behind a wall of sandbags in front of the bridge control hut. The Imperial was trying to keep as low a profile as possible by resting his ZM MP on the wall as support while dumping his magazine in Squad 7's general direction. He never got to dump a second mag.
Enemy destroyed.
This was the culmination of his life right here and now – to kill the Imperial quickly and efficiently. As the Imperial infantry in the street began to thin out considerably in the face of just one Squad's worth of fire and the survivors started to cower behind their sandbags among their recently departed and soon to be departed, to say nothing of the Imperials still holding the bridge against an entire company's worth of suppressing fire, Batory felt nothing but satisfaction. Now, he could properly kill the Imperials as they deserved.
Batory suddenly spotted a Shocktrooper from the Imperial blocking force on the Great Vasel Bridge suddenly break formation and dash madly toward the sandbags in front of the bridge control hut. Why he broke formation, Batory didn't care; perhaps it was the rest of the company's suppressing fire that made the man run. The warrant officer swiftly adjusted his aim to account for the slightly longer range.
The Shocktrooper never got off the bridge. The first bullet tore into his leg, forcing him to fall to his knees. The second bullet smashed through his breastplate and into his heart, killing him before his head hit the ground and surely sparing him the other heartbreak of having to kneel before the Gallians for too long.
Enemy destroyed.
Another Imperial Scout, seemingly mentally shattered, sprang out from behind the sandbags and wildly fired his ZM Kar carbine from the hip in the direction of Melchiott's advancing Scouts. Batory noticed that based on the number of glows he counted in the area he knew the Scouts to be in and their orientations, that Imperial missed all of his shots.
The warrant officer didn't. He actually took his time for this one.
Enemy destroyed.
Batory quietly hissed in contempt at the sight of the once-haughty Imperial infantry now refusing to even blind-fire their weapons… save for one, who bravely popped out from behind cover and was almost instantly shot in the head for his troubles.
Not what you signed up for, you arrogant bastards? You didn't think Gallia would have made it that easy for you?
He quickly suppressed his rage, remembering that to get carried away was to invite disaster. Batory couldn't afford that, even in such a one-sided battle. Not so soon into the war.
… Enemy destroyed.
Finally, after another minute of suppressing fire, Batory stopped shooting. The bulk of Squad 7 was already on top of the Imperial survivors, with the few who still dared to resist being turned inside out by point-blank subgun fire and hand-to-hand weapons. As far as he was concerned, the battle was won.
30 rounds expended. 10 rounds to kill 5, another 20 to suppress 4. Acceptable expenditure-to-hit ratio taking suppression into account.
Total kills this battle: 6. One by knife, five by carbine.
The last remaining Imperials surrendered mere seconds later, timidly raising their hands from behind their dead and the last scraps of their cover. Squad 7's Scouts soon secured the drawbridge control hut; a mere three minutes later, the Great Vasel Bridge began to retract with a loud grinding sound echoing from the gears in the control huts, drowning the fools who thought it would be a great idea to not fall back while their entire rear line collapsed. Batory watched and heard the bridge retract, plunging the last combat-effective Imperial units in the area shrieking and confused into the Vasel River.
The job was done and finished in a way that ultimately satisfied him.
… Enjoy the swim with that armor on, you curs.
/
Vasel, Principality of Gallia
April 14, 1935 EC
Corporal Batory Andrzejevski
Squad 1, Gallian Militia 3rd Company
It had been over 4 hours since the Great Vasel Bridge was retaken and since Batory and Mayfield finally rejoined their own Squad. The 3rd Company was given until 1400 hours to recuperate in Vasel, tending to their additional dead and wounded and attempting to figure out how Squad 1 would make do without their Medic. Whatever his name was, the Medic's head was completely obliterated by a stray round from the raid; his dog tags were the only way to even confirm who he was. Landzaat ordered the corpse to be covered with a tarp partly as a way to prevent most of the rest of Squad 1 from getting sick just looking at the remains while he went to company HQ to report the loss and receive the next day's orders.
Now that the battle had been resolved, Batory tried to find out why the Imperial reinforcements they were expecting to show up in short order had simply never arrived in time. The answer surprised him.
According to Potter a little while after the bridge was secured, it was Lt. Gunther's sister, the tank driver that wished Batory well that foggy morning, who temporarily convinced the Imperial commander of the reinforcing company that the firefight was just a false alarm. How or why the Imperial company commander thought this was an acceptable answer escaped Batory, but he was happy that the Imperial was stupid enough to buy it long enough for the Imperial position to become unsalvageable.
It certainly made the day easier, even if it meant fewer Imperials to turn into organ donors simply because they realized that sending reinforcements was by that point a fool's errand. Batory was more curious as to how this Darscen girl, apparently named Isara, was able to patch into Imperial radio communications from inside her tank.
A question perhaps best answered later, he thought to himself. Still, she's someone to keep in mind.
The Viszevar sat under the shade of a tree close to the west bank of the Vasel River, performing maintenance on his carbine and Archer pistol while he had the chance to. He personally considered it a good opportunity to better understand the rifle in particular, the basic overview he had received in Fort Amatriain being insufficient for his personal tastes.
The rifle is the right arm of the infantryman, Batory disdainfully thought to himself as he oiled the bolt and checked for rust. If the Militia doesn't bother to go over how to properly clean or disassemble a rifle, how long does it expect its personnel to live?
Actually… I don't want to know.
Finally satisfied after another minute of applying the oilcloth to his bolt that it was rust-free, Batory reassembled his weapon. After checking to see that it cycled properly, he by force of habit turned the safety on. Resting the gun against the gnarled trunk of the tree he was taking shelter under, Batory finally took the time to also rest while he could. Lying on the grass around the tree, the warrant officer closed his eyes and started to unwind.
As with many good things, it didn't last too long.
12:00 Ally Range 5 Wake Up
Batory grumbled internally. Really? Now? Despite this alert, he kept still with his eyes closed. Let them talk to me first, damn it.
"Hello, lad," a very distinct woman's voice rang out. "Have ye been doing well?"
The Crow opened his right eye and stared in the direction of the voice. He found staring down at him a pale woman in her mid-30s – looking a full decade younger – in the webbing of a Sniper with double the standard ammunition allotment.
"… Yes, I have… And you, Catherine?"
Catherine O'Hara was a rather unique individual in Squad 1, mainly because she too was a combat veteran. Like Mayfield, she had served in the Gallian military during EWI, and thus was immediately given a rank of private first class. Unlike Mayfield, she was a humble and exceptionally warm individual, insisting that she call her fellow enlisted soldiers by their first names and insisting that they call her Catherine back.
And unlike Mayfield, she had suffered a crisis that still haunted her to this very day, for which she had – by Gallian standards, perhaps – a very peculiar method of coping.
Something about always keeping a loaded weapon beside her and two full combat loads' worth of rounds on her at all times at bare minimum. I thought that was merely par for the course.
"Oh, I'm fine," O'Hara laughed in that extremely charming accent of hers as she brushed some strands of hair off of her face. The Viszevar found himself making a mental note to ask her later where exactly in Edinburgh that accent came from; it was rather appealing. "Wanting to make sure that everyone is good for the next round of battle, aye?"
Batory sat up, resting his elbows on his knees in what he hoped was a gesture meaning that he was relaxed and casual. "… I am all right, thank you… Other than losing the Medic somehow, I think the platoon is combat ready."
O'Hara smiled. "Aye, we will have to be. I know the Empire waits for no man. We'll have to fight them again soon enough, no matter how badly we took it today."
She then paused for a moment, and shook her head as if to see if anyone was listening on them. She wasn't smiling anymore, but didn't appear to be angry or disappointed. O'Hara squatted to meet Batory's current height and quietly spoke to him.
"This morning, while I was overwatching the other bank… I saw ye blasting away as if ye had infinite ammo, lad," quietly spoke the Sniper in a conspiratorial tone. "Never heard or saw anyone firing that quickly unless they were absolutely panicked. I knew it was ye since Musaad told me who was in that building, and no one else but him and you were Scouts in your little party."
Batory started to not like where this conversation was going. She saw my rate of fire? How?
"… I saw a lot of Imperials dying through me scope, aye. Panicked people don't tend to aim that well, either."
Batory had alarm bells going off in his head. Maintaining his mostly emotionless façade, he managed a "… We had an entire company engaging the drawbridge area, Catherine… Squad 7 was on top of them by the end… Of course they'd die so quickly."
I hope this works.
"… Besides," he continued with a slight shake of his head, "Those Imps were at least 50 meters away… I was blasting away as you said, so how would I have hit them?"
O'Hara nodded slowly, her eyes heavily suggesting that whatever she was thinking, she was convinced otherwise for now. "Aye, that is true... Even combat vets here don't get that high a hit rate like that."
The Sniper pursed her lips in slight disapproval. "But really," she quipped, "I hope ye don't keep burning through your ammo like that. You'll never know when ye need that last mag or last clip until ye don't have any left."
Having been reassured that O'Hara probably didn't think he was anyone truly unusual, Batory relaxed a bit more. "… Of course… Heat of the moment… I hope you understand."
O'Hara smiled once again and gave the Crow a light tap on his shoulder. "Aye, it gets us all. Just take care of yourself and check your gear, eh?"
She stood up to leave, but before she actually left, O'Hara asked Batory a question.
"Before I go," inquired O'Hara, "I have to ask ye something, Batory. How exactly do I pronounce your last name again?"
Batory shrugged. "… Ahnd-sheh-yev-ski."
O'Hara rolled the name around on her tongue for a little while. Eventually, she got it and laughed a little in triumph.
"Hardest name I ever had to say, lad. No wonder the others just call ye 'Batory'."
Batory gave her a thin smile. "… Catherine, you evidently have never had to pronounce Brzęczyszczykievicz."
O'Hara mockingly put her hands on her chest as if she was shot, and laughed. "No, no, I won't try that one, no thank ye!" With that, she gave him a wave and a smile, and soon walked off in the other direction.
Batory lay down on the grass again, closing his eyes once more. Despite O'Hara's personality, he was no longer in the best of moods. She was potentially close to figuring out that he did in fact probably kill almost all of those people she saw. He needed to exercise more caution if he wanted to keep himself incognito.
But a time would certainly come when he would have no choice but to blow his cover. Batory only hoped it would be far, far away from now.
Stand with your brothers. Stand and fight together.
… But keep your secrets to yourself, Batory. For as long as you can, idiot.
/
(1) Viszevaric for homeland.
(2) Viszevaric for War!
(3) Cathayan for heaven's gem