Saint of Letzenbourg Part 2

Operation Fog and Sun

40 Years after the Great War

Londinium

Good Evening, everyone, I'm Andrew WTN Special Correspondent.

Today we bring you a continuation of our program exploring the mysterious Saint of Letzenbourg, who continued to have an association with the so-called "Devil of the Rhine," even after the Fall and later recapture of Letzenbourg, new evidence has shown. We hope his new evidence unearthed by my colleague, will help us better understand both these wartime figures.

We last left off at the fall of Letzenbourg, where even to this day it is widely believed that the young Prince Wilhelm von Hozollern himself, was the Saint. Historians, however, are in agreement that this was not the case, although it is known that the Saint did broadcast in the young boy's voice, to rally the populace.

Despite the last broadcast urging the citizens to cooperate with their captors, a great many resisted the republican occupation, using the Saint as a symbol to rally around. With the death of the Regent, the pro-Republican faction was leaderless and unable to counter this, and riots broke out forcing the republicans to send troops into the city.

Fearing a Major assault in Rawl Lowlands, or perhaps as vengeance for the atrocities in Arene the Republic was forced to act ruthlessly so they didn't need to keep a major presence in the city. This resulted in a great many deaths for the citizens, in what became known as Den Dag vun Tréinen, or the Day of Tears. It is still thought of as a stain on the François military and is a bone of contention with the two countries.

During this time Prince Wilhelm was in Berlun, as he had been since the beginning of the war. The Saint's whereabouts during this time are unknown, however, records have been found that indicate he was soon involved in another significant incident of the great war. The now infamous, operation revolving door. – Andrew WTN Special Correspondent.

May 18th Unified Year 1925

Berlun

Colonel Rerugen was deep in thought as he climbed into the back of his staff car outside the general staff office. The car was slightly more luxurious than an officer of his rank would normally use, either because he was on an errand for General Zettour, or possibly due to the social status of their guest, he had been allowed to take the better model. The vehicles were part of a pool kept for the various officers around the capital for when they needed them, along with some chauffeurs to drive them. Normally you could only get what was available at the time, which was usually a practical and efficient transport with little in the way of frills or comfort.

This car was one of the few more extravagant vehicles that were usually reserved for high ranking officers and VIP's. As well as comfortable leather seats and soft suspension, its rear passenger seats were completely separated from the driver, allowing a greater deal of privacy. It also contained a drinks cabinet, refreshments and an impressive selection of cigars and cigarettes for the passengers. He was on duty, so of course, would eschew the temptation of the alcohol but he did decide to indulge himself with an up-market cigarette during the journey to help clear his mind.

He instructed the driver to head off before sliding the tinted window that separated them closed and striking a match to light his cigarette, filling the car with a slight haze as he smoked. He soon found himself staring out of the window thoughtfully, watching the world go past as he contemplated his current errand. He was on his way to collect the young Prince Wilhelm for a meeting with General's Zettour and Rudersdorf, to discuss the boy's current predicament.

The fall of Letzenbourg had become a major headache for everyone involved, the General staff had been forced to prevent the reinforcements for the Prince's attempt to retake the city in order to safeguard Operation Revolving Door. However, due to the secrecy of that operation, much of the Supreme High Command didn't know this, additionally, reports seemed to suggest the prince's attack would have succeeded, had the reinforcements had arrived. To the high command, it looked like an unforgivable military blunder and rumour had it that the Emperor himself had expressed concern, suddenly everyone was desperate for someone to blame.

As promised, Vice Admiral Canaris, head of all Imperial intelligence, had shielded the general staff from much of the culpability, this meant all the blame for the loss of Letzenbourg city had shifted to the prince instead. This had created an entirely new set of problems, although he had effectively surrendered the command of the Letzenbourg military to the general staff, he was still technically part of a different military, not to mention a head of state for his own country and relative of the Kaiser.

Any punishment seemed almost impossible, and the issue had split the high command. The foreign office was particularly concerned about how it would make the Empire look to the other powers, especially their ally the Kingdom of Ildoa, but much of the rest of the high command wanted action taken against the boy, especially the Vice-Admiral. He suspected they saw it as an opportunity to finally get the boy away from the front lines, so they had pinned their hopes on persuading him to resign his commission just as General von Hans had been forced to. So far, they had been unsuccessful, however, and after his last meeting with the prince, Rerugen could understand why.

Rerugen had been sent to retrieve the little prince a few days before, he'd been shocked and horrified to see the state he had been in. He had received several severe injuries and had looked almost dead on his feet. Rerugen had been about to reprimand Degurechaff for allowing him to come to such harm but the boy had interjected immediately, recommending her for a commendation for saving him instead. It seemed a little suspicious to him, and even Degurechaff seemed a little surprised by this, but he was in no position to argue the point.

He had originally planned for them to share a private car on the train journey back to Berlun, Rerugen had been tasked with persuading the prince that it might be wise to resign his commission before the high command got involved. However, due to the prince's injuries, the boy spent much of the time resting in the neighbouring compartment, meaning he didn't have the opportunity to speak with him about it. During the journey, the prince was attended by two women in their early 20s, who he later found were sisters. One was a maid, who seemed remarkably proficient in medicine and checked on the boy regularly, while the other was a Letzenbourg Captain, who after making sure the prince was comfortable, had joined him in the private car.

Initially, it had been awkward, having not been properly introduced to each other, but the young captain soon flashed a beautiful smile and broke the ice and before they knew it, they were chatting like old friends. As it turned out, they had a mutual acquaintance, she had apparently worked with Lt Colonel Max von Heinz, his pick for General von Hans's assistant before he had his unfortunate break down.

Inevitably the conversation eventually turned to Letzenbourg and why the reinforcements had never been despatched. She shared with him that the prince felt incredibly guilty for not being able to save the city from the Republic and had vowed not to return until the war was over, he found himself frowning at that, it sounded like persuading the prince to stand down would be more difficult than he hoped. He obviously couldn't mention anything about revolving door, so could only tell her that something else was in the works and that Letzenbourg city would be liberated soon.

Rerugen had felt bad about how little he could tell them after hearing how close they had been to succeeding in their mission, but it wasn't worth risking Revolving door, too many lives were riding on its success.

"I see," The young woman said with a sad smile, "at least our people won't have to suffer for too long."

Rerugen shuffled uncomfortably at the memory of how the woman said those words, it was easy to forget the human cost of decisions as big as this. The people of Letzenbourg were now under the oppressive occupation of the François Republic, true it shouldn't be for long, everyone was confident that revolving door would all but end the war, but it was little consolation. They could only hope that the Republic didn't take revenge on the poor citizens of Letzenbourg for what had happened at Arene.

"It was Generals Zettour and Rudersdorf that ordered the retreat yes?" she asked eventually, and Rerugen nodded in conformation, that much was common knowledge, there was no point in denying it. He supposed the surviving Letzenbourgers would want someone to blame, he doubted they would turn against their prince, he just hoped it wouldn't cause problems for them later.

"Did Vice Admiral Canaris advise them to fall back?" She said to his surprise, fixing him with her hazel eyes. He stared back at her dumbstruck, how could she have possibly known of the Admiral's involvement? Obviously, he hadn't kept a good poker face as she smiled at him once more before explaining that she'd served under Canaris, in the Abwehr, while the Prince was at the war college and knew the man well. She told him she knew he couldn't keep his nose out of things, so he had likely known what was going on. He cursed himself for letting the cat out of the bag, she'd obviously confirmed her suspicions from the look on his face, he resolved to be more careful in the future.

Soon after she excused herself to check on the prince once again, it was heart-warming to see how loyal the boy's followers were, he was truly blessed in that respect. It seemed that the little prince's reputation for inspiring devotion in those around him wasn't exaggerated, he could see the look of concern in the two sister's eyes whenever the boy was mentioned.

The prince limped into the railcar as they approached the outskirts of Berlun, flanked by his concerned looking subordinates. The boy moved stiffly and with obvious discomfort, he had one arm in a sling while the other was kept bandaged and in a splint, allowing him to use at least one hand but with clear difficulty. He still looked utterly exhausted, he looked as though he could have slept for a week and it still wouldn't be enough, while his skin had turned a waxy and deathly pallor. Rerugen frowned, If only they could have gotten a message out to the boy before he and Degurechaff had attacked the city, perhaps they could have prevented this.

The boy apologised for his rudeness for being absent during their journey, bowing stiffly and wincing in pain. Rerugen found himself getting up to help the boy to his seat as he reassured the boy no apology was necessary before the boy cut in once again.

"I will report directly to the General staff once we arrive," He declared through ragged breaths.

Rerugen tried to dissuade him, he clearly needed rest, preferably in a hospital, true they were harsh taskmasters, but the General staff weren't monsters. They could work with the other reports they had until he was in a better state of health. The little prince had refused, however, declaring with a strange look of determination, that he was a loyal soldier and he should report his failure to his superiors immediately. Before struggling to his feet with the help of his aides as the train slowed to a halt.

When they arrived at the offices in the Königsplatz, they were informed the General Staff and High Command were in a meeting and would have to wait. He had to admit he was relieved, presenting the young royal in such an injured and dishevelled state would no doubt cause more than a little concern amongst the brass, true they wanted him away from the front lines but nobody wanted to see the emperor's nephew injured to prove their point.

He began suggesting they should allow the boy time to rest but the young prince had already left and was hobbling towards their meeting room, utterly undeterred by the confused protestations of himself, various officials and the guards. He was surprisingly quick despite his injuries and soon found himself pausing in astonishment as the prince's aides slammed the double doors of the meeting room open revealing the stunned looks of the most powerful individuals in the Empire.

Understandably the smoke-filled room erupted in confused and angry shouts, with the finance and industrial ministers demanding the boy be removed while the foreign minister was demanding an explanation for his injuries. Generals Zettour and Rudersdorf, who had been representing the General Staff at the meeting, looked surprised by the boy's entrance and shared a look before staying quiet and waiting to see what would unfold. Meanwhile, Vice Admiral Canaris looked on quietly with an unreadable expression. Eventually, the weary-looking Chancellor Luther called for everyone to be quiet, he seemed more annoyed at the rest of the cabinet's bickering than surprised by the prince's entrance.

"Order Gentlemen!" He called striking the table loudly with his palm as the room fell silent, "I'm sure Prince Wilhelm has…"

He joined the room in an astounded silence as they all looked down at the little prince, he had fallen to his knees and was visibly shaking. Rerugen moved to help the boy, assuming his wounds had caused him to collapse but stopped himself as he realised neither of the sisters had moved to do the same. He'd seen their concern for the boy, why hadn't they moved to assist him? What was going on?

"I….I'm sorry…..," The boy began sobbing. "I wasn't good enough, I failed and I lost the city… my home."

Everyone in the room turned and stared at each other uncomfortably, obviously this was not what any of them had expected when the prince had burst into the chamber.

"I didn't want everyone to think Letzenbourg had turned traitor, I fought with everything I had but it wasn't enough," He continued tearfully before coughing up a small pool of blood onto the carpet. This time, the two women did begin to move but the boy raised his bandaged hand to stop them.

"Because I was such a bad commander…. we were forced to pull back the lines out of Letzenbourg" he wheezed in obvious pain.

All the ministers had shared a look of awkward embarrassment, except Vice Admiral Canaris, who was wearing a disapproving frown, although Rerugen wasn't sure why.

"Have I lost us the war?" He questioned staring up at them all tearfully, and suddenly the room erupted into shouts once more as the men started attributing blame.

Rudersdorf was scowled, his indignant rage directed at the ministers who were trying to place blame when they hadn't the first clue what the situation was, while General Zettour looked on thoughtfully with the ghost of a smile.

"Gentlemen, I can assure you that the war is far from lost" General Zettour began quieting the room before locking eyes with the prince. "We are currently beginning an operation that will turn the tide of this war, for security reasons I can't share any more with you at this time. But I assure you Letzenbourg's heroic sacrifice will not be in vain. It will be retaken."

Some of the ministers began to argue again but were silenced by another bout of blood-filled coughing from the young prince as he tried to stand.

"General! I swear I will fight with everything I have to end this war!" He wheezed before collapsing, narrowly being caught by his aides, who excused themselves and the prince soon after. Needless to say, the whole thing had caused quite a stir, and they hadn't been able to agree on how to handle the prince yet.

A few days later, after he had compiled all his reports for the Generals, the two admitted they didn't like that the prince was being forced to take the blame for the fall of Letzenbourg, especially when it became apparent that the mission would likely have been a complete success if the reinforcements had been sent. They felt it sent the wrong message to the officers, the prince had reacted to the news and staged a largely successful counterattack. They didn't want their officers second-guessing themselves for fear of reprisal, they wanted their officers to use their initiative.

They were also concerned by the high command's ignorance of the public mood surrounding the prince. The boy was popular amongst the populace, the propaganda dept had already been painting him as a great hero. Worse still, despite the control they had over the official press, there were already rumours surfacing amongst the smaller publications and workers magazines that the prince's impending punishment was part of a cover-up. The General staff tried to pay attention to the public mood, they were always looking over their shoulders to make sure the public was still behind the war. If they lost the war at home, that lost the war.

So the Generals had concocted a scheme so that everyone could win.

He shook himself from his memories as the car turned down the riverside road hat led the Letzenbourg embassy. His errand was to collect the young prince so he could redeem himself by taking part in the upcoming operation. The prince was going to help them close the revolving door.

May 18th Unified Year 1925

Rhine Front: Imperial army Right Wing, Rawl Lowlands

Technically speaking, their mission was reconnaissance in force, they were to probe deep into enemy lines, engaging in hit and run attacks at the innermost levels of the enemy defences. Usually, this tactic was used to test the disposition and strength of the enemy forces and was an unmistakable sign that a major offensive was on its way. If what Tanya had heard from her old colleague in the railway division, Major Ugar, was correct, this was exactly what command wanted the Republic to think.

In truth, the mission was a bluff to cover the massive troop movements and activity across the rail systems in the area. Ugar had informed her that Generals Zettour and Rudersdorf had masterminded a plan to draw in the bulk of the Republic's forces and encircle them in a decisive battle. If it worked it could potentially bring the war to an end, and Tanya could work on furthering her career without worrying about stray bullets and live a long and comfortable life to spite Being X. In order to accomplish this, they first planned to pull back the front lines.

She had not been briefed on the entirety of the operation as of yet, she'd only received orders to cover the redeployment, most of her information about the wider scheme from Ugar. With his position in the railway division and as a subordinate of General Zettour in the service corps, he was not only privy to more information than front line troops like herself, but he could see what was happening with his own eyes. So, she knew his information could be trusted.

The Republic would have to be blind and stupid not to notice the massive increase in activity, so the General Staff decided to cover up the withdrawal by making the enemy think they were preparing a last-ditch offensive against the Republic's northern flank, hence the mission Tanya and her battalion had found themselves in. It was quite the bluff, for all intents and purposes, they were fighting a desperate rear-guard action whilst trying to keep up the appearance that they were the first signs of a major offensive.

It was an audacious plan, they must have been preparing this for some time if it worked it would be a major development that would turn the tide of the war. She now understood why her superiors had abandoned Letzenbourg city to the Republic. If the ruse were to work, the enemy would have to concentrate up here in the north, the republic couldn't risk that if they had to send too many troops to contest the little country. Additionally, the encirclement would have to come from the south, she doubted the Allied Kingdom would allow an attack through their waters to perform a similar feat as they had in the Osfjord, so the fewer enemy troops in the south, the higher the chance of success. If they pulled this off, it would be the greatest encirclement in history, it could rewrite the rules of warfare, General Zettour must have been looking forward to having his name printed in next to Hannibal in the history books, the historical figure had performed a similar manoeuvre at the battle of Cannae

The General staff had chosen to sacrifice the little country in the short term for greater long-term gains. It was an understandable trade-off but obviously, nobody had bothered to include Wilhelm in on the plan, he had been counting on reinforcements for his own plot to succeed. Despite removing the resistance within Letzenbourg city, those reinforcements never arrived. They were never even dispatched, so the city had fallen to the Republic.

It struck her as odd that the boy hadn't known what was going on though, he and his staff had shown themselves to be dangerously resourceful. The little colonel had orchestrated an entire plot involving getting himself shot down just to attach himself to her battalion, before plotting a coup against his brother with Vice Admiral Canaris, the Empire's intelligence chief. Even with the top-secret status of the upcoming operation, it was unthinkable that the Imperial spymaster wouldn't have known about it, so why hadn't he told Wilhelm his plan would fail?

From what she'd gathered from the injured little colonel before he'd been recalled back to Berlun, he believed Canaris had betrayed him. The man had promised to pressure the General staff to send reinforcements, that they hadn't been sent was proof enough for Wilhelm that he'd been had.

Tanya wasn't so sure herself, it was certainly possible but equally, it could have been a simple error or miscommunication. Wilhelm was too paranoid about such things, but she had to admit there did seem to be something a bit off about the situation. Ultimately though, it wasn't her problem anymore, the little colonel was finally out of her hair, and it seemed he was keeping his promise of shielding her from any blame, even going so far as to put her in for a commendation. Not that she should share any of the blame in the first place. But that didn't always matter who exactly was at fault in these situations, and technically she had been responsible for some of the little colonel's injuries, even if he deserved them, so it was reassuring that he was keeping his word.

It was almost funny, officially he was being charged with misconduct on operations, obstructing operations and disobeying lawful commands. In her opinion, he wasn't actually guilty of any of those things, what he was actually guilty of was conspiring to get Letzenbourg to mutiny, so in her mind, he should face some sort of punishment. Although, if what he had told her was true, and Vice Admiral Canaris had encouraged it, it sounded like he was being thrown under the bus, from what little she'd heard the Admiral was one of the most vocal proponents for the little colonel to resign. She was just glad he was out of the situation.

The last she'd heard, Wilhelm was essentially confined to an office creating a temporary government in exile, until they'd figured out how to go about punishing him. With his desperation to rid himself of his so-called curse, this would no doubt be incredibly frustrating for him. He'd probably be pulling his hair out by now, it was exactly what he'd been trying to avoid when he'd attached himself to the 203rd, that and the fear of assassination by the Letzenbourg regent.

She was almost jealous, he was comfortably in the rear doing paperwork while she was avoiding airburst shells and machine-gun fire, it felt like she was the one being punished. If not for his impending disciplinary, she'd have happily traded places with him, a few more days of this Hell and she might just go for it.

Hell was too light of a word for what this was. This deep into enemy lines the air was full of fire and shrapnel, and incalculable amounts of bullets and shells poured into the sky from the ground below. The noise of gunfire, explosions and screams almost drowned out the near-constant stream of radio reports from her subordinates, many informing her of casualties or losses to her elite human resources. Even if they turned back now, they'd have to retreat over enemy-held territory, likely suffering more casualties on the way, but they couldn't fall back now, not if they wanted the plan to work.

In truth, when she'd received the orders to delve so deep into the enemy lines to cover the troop movements, she'd been stricken almost speechless in horror. She'd have given anything for an excuse to be anywhere else other than here. Even for her handpicked elites, this was almost a suicide mission, casualties were predicted to be mercilessly high, and so far despite being less than expected, they were still excessive.

It was another General staff trade-off just like Letzenbourg, one augmented battalion would be worked to the bone, no matter the cost to ensure the success of the plan. Her rational mind knew this made sense, and she accepted it with reluctant fatalism if it succeeded it would be the first step to ending the war and she'd prove Being X wrong by living a long and successful life without faith. It didn't make feel any better about the mission, however, it was fortunate that Rudersdorf and Zettour weren't in earshot right now, she wasn't sure she could stop herself giving them a piece of her mind.

She had been certain even her faithful band of war maniacs would pale at this mission and so she'd attempted a speech to rouse them all before they deployed. Embarrassingly she'd ended up sounding like something from a cliché war flick. Fortunately, no one from this world had been subjected to a multimillion-dollar Hollywood blockbuster yet, so it the trite rabble-rousing seemed to do the trick. Even so after 8 days and 6 hours of this horror, they were all beginning to crack.

"Break! Break!" Tanya ordered urgently as a company of Republican mages moved to intercept them, firing as they approached.

Perfect! Just what we need, more people shooting at us! Tanya thought, cursing her luck as her company turned violently to avoid the disciplined volley of enemy fire. The other three companies were engaged further away, either attacking ground units or dealing with other mages themselves, they'd have to deal with these new threats on their own.

Despite the arrival of their own mages, the Republican ground forces didn't cease their own onslaught. The air was filled with smoke and munitions, so much fire had been unleashed on them it felt like each one of them was besieged in their defensive shells as the mages fired a second volley, felling 2nd Lieutenant Nessler. She cursed again, Nessler had been with the 203rd since its founding, losing anyone that had accumulated all that experience was a tragic waste of resources.

"Move in close! Take them in hand to hand if you have to!" she ordered desperately, at least if they kept close to the enemy mages, they wouldn't have to worry so much about the ground fire. The Republicans weren't so ruthless that they'd risk hitting their own me.

She found herself smiling grimly as she realised she had just ordered the use of a tactic that she would have probably chastised Wilhelm for, not so long ago. Perhaps there was something to be said for his unit's close quarters specialisation, it was certainly necessary for this situation. Wilhelm had only ever fought on the Rhine front, he would have been doing missions such as this before she'd been redeployed from Norden, although not likely as intense as this. Although he'd probably adopted his close combat doctrine due to his strange fixation with his sword, she couldn't deny that for missions like this it was effective.

They charged forward firing into the enemy mages as they went and soon, they were close enough that the formations of both sides fell apart in the ensuing aerial melee. A republican charged at her, levelling his bayoneted rifle like a jousting knight. She turned in the air, easily dodging the attack, grasping her own combat knife as she spun in the air before thrusting it into her assailants back. The man fell from his metal steed as she wrenched her blade out of him before raising her gun to find her next target.

Seeing another enemy mage trying to peel away from the brawl, she fired a burst that struck the man's shield throwing him off balance. Then she charged in once again, tackling him, causing him to fall from his saddle with a strangled scream.

She heard a republican officer order a desperate retreat and the mages began to disengage. She considered leaving them, but it could be a problem later if they regrouped and returned to the fray. She was about to order a pursuit when the ground fire erupted once more, apparently, their countrymen in the trenches below had been watching the fierce battle in the skies above them and had opened fire to cover the mage's retreat. She ordered evasive manoeuvres, they had to gain altitude and regroup, they were still disorganised from the melee and were particularly vulnerable to incoming fire right now.

"Damnit, I'm hit!" Koenig called over the radio with pain-filled voice. Tanya bit back a curse, injuries were mounting, any wounded should pull back as soon as possible she decided, it was the only way to minimise losses and prevent them from bleeding any more of their assets.

"Take cover 03, grab 27 and fall back" She ordered quickly, turning again to avoid more incoming fire. She'd long become accustomed to making decisions and issuing orders under fire, it was almost like she could partition off part of her brain to keep herself safe while she considered the greater tactical situation.

"This is 04, my company has lost several men already! 60 percent of them are down," Neumann reported, his usual jovial voice absent in the face of so many casualties. Tanya found herself biting her lip in frustration, how much longer did they have to be out here? It was too much, at the rate things were going there wouldn't be much of a battalion left to command by the end of this.

"Company 4 regroup with 03 and retreat! Anyone who can back him up, do so!" She called back.

By now her company had reformed its formation and they had started to fire on the ground troops that had been causing them problems. Unfortunately, the republican mages had also regrouped and were racing towards the once more. Her company wheeled around and fired a barrage at the approaching republicans, scoring some hits on the lead mages.

"This is 02, we've lost half of our men, we won't last much longer!" Wiess reported adding to the pile of bad news. The situation had gone from bad to worse, Wiess was right, they couldn't last much longer, they would have to pull out soon.

"Damn," Tanya cursed to herself before radioing the command post. "This is fairy 01, we are currently surrounded and engaged with a company-sized unit of enemy mages, what is your status?"

"We've initiated the final phase of plan number one, the evacuation is still underway, but you have permission to withdraw," The communications officer replied.

"You're giving us permission to withdraw now?" She said to herself under her breath. She felt her face tighten into a frustrated grimace, there was nothing she'd rather do right now than turn around and hightail it back to friendly territory at top speed. She'd more than had enough of being shot at for one day, their casualties had been horrendous and both she and her troops were exhausted. She firmly believed that they'd done more than their fair share these last few days. However, if they retreated before the evacuation was complete, there was a chance that the republic could figure out what they were up to, then all of this would be for nothing!

"That's not necessary," She radioed back through gritted teeth. "If we withdraw and they chase us, there's still a chance they'll discover our con. We'll continue to fight the enemy here, so they don't learn of our strategic retreat."

Her company had turned again, and she peered down the sights of her gun lining up a shot at one of the enemy mages. She poured her frustration into the weapon and squeezed the trigger letting loose a volley of fire into the unsuspecting soldier. The man fell, an unfortunate casualty of her anger and irritation of their current situation, she refused to let this be a wasted endeavour. Fortunately, their fire forced the remainder of the enemy mages to back off to lick their wounds again, giving them a little respite for the moment.

"Roger that, we'll contact you when we're done, may gods protection be with you," The radio operator replied.

"God's protection?" She muttered to herself with undisguised disgust, "Being X's fingerprints are all over this mess."

Suddenly an airburst shell exploded next to her and to her horror, her barrier shattered, another hit, and it would all be over. She scrambled to re-raise her shield as out of the corner of her eye she saw the ground troops loading another shell. She didn't know if she could make it in time, would this be the end?

"Major!" Visha yelled flying in front of her sensing the danger. She fired off a host of artillery spells at the gunners below engulfing them in a blistering wave of flames, ending the threat for the moment.

Relieved for the reprieve, Tanya turned to thank her adjutant as she focused on reforming her shield. Before she could voice her appreciation however, Visha's computation orb exploded around her neck with a bang and the young woman began falling to the ground.

"Second Lieutenant Serabryakov! Visha!" She called urgently.

Tanya felt an unfamiliar sense of panic as she saw Serabryakov fall towards the ground, her computation orb must have overloaded she realised, without it, Visha couldn't fly, nor could she toughen herself up for the fall, she would die. For some reason, that knowledge filled her with a feeling of dread and terror, she'd lost people before, in both her lifetimes but she'd always accepted it as an unfortunate fact of life.

This felt different, however, in her past life all her familial losses had been due to disease or old age, it had been easy to accept them as inevitable. In this lifetime she had seen plenty of death, especially on the Rhine. She'd lost troops herself, and although she'd grieve for them, she wouldn't lose much sleep over it, this was war, people die in it. So why did it feel so different as she watched Visha fall?

Unbidden the memory of Wilhelm's irrational behaviour after losing his subordinate, captain Hausmann, came to mind.

"You took someone very important from me, you took part of my happiness!" The boy had said "Hausmann was mine! I promised him…and you took him from me!"

She hadn't really understood at the time, she'd put it down to his injuries and unpredictable personality but now she wasn't so sure. The sudden fear of losing Visha was terrifying, she'd been with her since the first time they'd been on the Rhine, she'd almost taken it for granted that she would always be there. Despite herself, she could almost see herself reacting like the little colonel had if anything happened to her.

"Lieutenant Wiess! Meet up with 1st company and take command for now." She ordered not waiting for a response before diving towards her stricken assistant as fast as she could.

She saw Visha's eyes squeezed shut with fear as she hastily dived towards her, no doubt she knew she wouldn't survive the fall and had understandably chosen not to see her imminent demise. Tanya increased her speed, desperate to catch her before that could happen and soon overtook her adjutant and caught her before she hit the ground.

"Major!" Visha called in shock as her eyes snapped open in surprise and relief, while Tanya guided them down into a trench, now vacant due to Visha's artillery barrage.

"Um…Sorry for the trouble," Visha apologised with obvious embarrassment as they landed. Tanya felt a strange mix of relief and anger now that the girl was safe, Serabryakov was a better soldier than this, she shouldn't have allowed this to happen.

"You were too reckless! You have twice as much mana as the others. I expect better from you!" Tanya chastised, before wondering if she was being a little hard on her subordinate. In truth, this situation had really rattled her in a completely unexpected way, and her mind was struggling to process it all, she wasn't really sure why she was so angry at her subaltern.

"I'm…truly sorry," Serabryakov said sincerely and Tanya began to feel herself calm a little seeing the young woman safe.

"Do you remember when we were first here?" Tanya asked as she recalled those days with a wry smile, "back then you were just a rookie that could do nothing but dodge shells."

Tanya looked at her subordinate, she really had changed. If she could tell her past self that the then corporal Serabryakov would become one of the most accomplished and powerful mages in the empire, she'd probably have assumed her future self had gone off the deep end.

"Major, while I was just acting tough back then, now I'm totally up to the task!" Said Visha with eyes full of determination and the remainder of Tanya's anger receded. She found herself smiling.

She was glad to still have Visha, she wasn't just her flight partner and adjutant, she was the person she trusted the most in the battalion, someone she knew she could always count on. She would hate to lose her. She was worried however, she would have to be careful not to let this fear of loss affect her, she was a rational mind first and foremost.

"you took part of my happiness!" Wilhelm's voice echoed in her mind and the uncomfortable feeling returned momentarily. Was this what you felt? She wondered. She felt she understood the boy a little better now, not that she was likely to see him again. She'd seen what this kind of loss had done to him and felt a measure of it herself now, it was no wonder so many soldiers leave the battlefield without their sanity.

"Here, take my type 97, I still have the type 95," She said to her adjutant, passing her the orb. She was still reluctant to use the type 95, its mental corruption was an ever-present fear. She didn't see any other alternatives however, she wasn't about to leave Visha in an enemy trench.

"Fairy 1 this is Hotel 09, Operation Fog and Sun is complete. You may withdraw" the command point signalled to Tanya's relief. They were finally free to leave the battlefield.

"All units, disengage and withdraw immediately! We're done for the day!" Tanya ordered as they took to the sky and heard a chorus of relief in response. It seemed even her loyal war dogs had had enough, then again, she couldn't blame them, they'd followed her to hell and now it was time to go back.

Authors notes

As always thank you all for reading.

I will have finished making adjustments up to chapter 10, there haven't been any major story changes, but I've changed some of the wording in places and fixed some spelling and grammar problems. I was hoping to finish adjusting all the chapters so fr before I posted this, but I got impatient.

I also thought about completely rewriting the 1st two chapters but for the moment I'd prefer to carry on, its at least more readable now (I hope).

Tanya and Wilhelm will be apart for a few chapters, I'm going to have to force them back together again, but currently, the prince has to get himself out of hot water. I thought about doing Rerugen's part from Wilhelm's point of view, but I liked the idea of having it from an outsider's point of view, especially since we haven't had Wilhelm's POV since he lost Hausmann and I think I'll have to put a lot into it the next time he appears. Hopefully, it's fairly obvious he's up to something.

I also hope you liked Tanya's bit in this chapter, I primarily used the anime and manga for that part. The manga especially, you get to see a side of Tanya you rarely get to see, so I tried to expand on that a bit.

It also meant I got to write a fight too which hopefully breaks up all of the explanation of what has happened in the 13 days since Letzenbourg fell.

Hope you're still enjoying it, reviews about how I can improve are appreciated.

Xanen