Operation 177: As one door closes
40 Years after the Great War
Londinium
As the Empire was launching the now infamous operation revolving door, the Allied Kingdom decided that events on the continent couldn't be ignored any longer. Unaware that the seemingly weakened state of the Empire was part of a cunning ruse, the Allied Kingdom offered to negotiate restitutio in integrum for the continental powers, returning the continent to its pre-war borders. It was assumed the Empire would leap at the chance to end the war in this way and the prime minister felt certain that a diplomatic solution to the conflict would soon be reached.
The Empire refused this offer however, and the Allied Kingdom was now forced to join the war in earnest. Soon the first of the commonwealth troops joined the fighting on the continent and had the misfortune to see the tragedy that had befallen the Republican troops. – Andrew WTN Special Correspondent
May 27th Unified Year1925
Caleis coastline, Albish Channel
It's been a good couple of days, thought Tanya as she and her team flew over the choppy waters of the Albish Channel. Not only had they accomplished their mission, but they had also encountered much less resistance than expected, so had done it without suffering any casualties. They had also managed to traverse across the country to the extraction point without being detected. Her part of the operation had gone off without a hitch, which was almost surprising considering Schugel's inventions had been involved. Additionally, once they got back to the submarine, they found out that every other part of the plan was going well too. Things were looking good.
In truth the drop had gone almost too smoothly, she'd privately hoped someone would get lost during the landing so she could use it as an excuse to go look for them while the others started the attack. She wasn't all that keen to be in the firing line and it was an officer's responsibility to look after their subordinates, so it would have been an ideal way to slack off without losing face. As always, luck, or Being X, didn't help her out in that regard. Fortunately, the enemy they faced were few in number and in complete disarray so were quickly overwhelmed. So, she supposed that meant it worked out for the best.
The brass had considered operation shock and awe to be an extremely dangerous and difficult assignment. It was an attack on the enemy headquarters, after all, obviously, it would be heavily defended, and the General staff anticipated casualties. It was expected that anywhere up to sixty per cent of the team could have been killed or wounded in this action, but this was considered acceptable considering the potential payoff. Fortunately for her, these projections had proven to be mistaken and the result was ideal for Tanya's career.
All of their targets had actually been surprisingly lightly guarded and when combined with the confusion caused by the explosive door knockers, they fell easily. It seemed the Republic had been complacent and left only a small force to guard them, they must have assumed their command was too far from the Empire's forces to be threatened. She could understand the logic behind such a decision but as the saying goes, 'expect the unexpected.'
Much like any business with incompetent leadership, they failed to protect themselves from a rapid shift in the markets. True you cannot plan for every contingency, but a responsible business will keep a portion of their resources aside to respond to unforeseen events. The same is true in the market of war, although the resources in such a situation are your soldiers and supplies rather than a financial safety net. The Republic had failed to do this at their Headquarters and Tanya had been more than willing to teach them the consequences of their folly and happy to reap the benefits from it.
The light opposition, zero casualty rate and the successful completion of all their mission objectives all worked to her advantage. Due to their own projections, the brass would probably think she was being modest in her report on the operation and the whole picture would make her look like the perfect and dutiful officer. It was the ideal situation for a subordinate to prove their value to their superiors.
It was hard work going against your own nature to be a good soldier, as she'd pointed out many times before, she was a pacifist and despised the inherent wastefulness of war. But she was also a pragmatist and she knew if she ever wanted to get promoted to a safer post, she had to get results, she had to be the ideal employee. No matter what that idiot boy thought, it wasn't who you are, it's what you do that counts. Sure, some connections can't hurt but they mean nothing if you haven't done the work to use them properly.
It annoyed her no end that Wilhelm was utterly unable to see this. His refusal to believe in the meritocratic system was frustratingly illogical, and in a way, it was almost sad. He truly believed his only worth came from his social rank and that he only had power and influence because of it. Even when they'd first met, Tanya knew this couldn't be the case. Although child mages weren't unheard of, a normal boy couldn't have achieved the rank he had without being at least somewhat deserving of it. She would admit he'd had some advantages along the way, but the war college doesn't allow people to graduate if they aren't up to standard, even if you say you're a prince.
She suspected that he would have been assigned a much lower rank had he joined the Imperial army rather than the Letzenbourg rabble. It made sense to elevate him over the rest of that pack, however. Compared to the imperial army the army of the Grand Duchy of Letzenbourg was little better than a peasant levy, only moderately more competent than the Dacians. Additionally, with the exception of the two sisters and the deceased captain Hausmann, Tanya hadn't seen anything close to a competent officer in Letzenbourg. Frighteningly Wilhelm might be the closest they had to decent leadership. It was probably a good thing that the little country was being handed over to the Empire.
As she'd gotten to know the boy better, she'd found more proof that his lack of faith in the meritocracy was misguided. He proved with his own skills and talents that he didn't get what he wanted simply from his status. He was irritatingly manipulative but undoubtedly very good with people and managed to project an image of himself that most people seemed to truly believe. He'd managed that image surprisingly well, in another time he could have made a killing in marketing. He was using signal theory on his own identity and reputation, shaping people's perceptions of him. She often wondered if he even knew he was doing it.
He was undeniably skilled with flight and combat, even if he did have an unhealthy obsession with his sword, and his use of psychological attacks was very effective. He was intelligent but now she knew of his link with being X, she knew that wasn't through natural ability but experience instead. He claimed he didn't remember all of his past life, but his thought process was clearly not that of a child, so much like her, he had past experiences to draw on. He was also incredibly good at turning things to his advantage and of course being a colossal pain in her backside.
Aside from that last thing, all of these took hard work to achieve. It was these qualities, if that were truly the best way of describing them, that had kept him on the front lines like he had wanted. Everything he'd achieved was due to the effort he'd put in to get it, he'd had to earn it in the same way as everyone else. All his princely title had ever done for him, was put him in danger from his own supposed family and threaten to pull him back to Berlun. For all of the supposed advantages his social rank provided, it had been as much of a hindrance for him as a benefit. Why couldn't he see that? Why did he think his only worth was a title and family name that wasn't even really his?
She frowned slightly, annoyed that her thoughts had turned to Wilhelm again. She didn't know why the boy kept creeping to mind, perhaps she just wanted a way to prove the stubborn child wrong. At least she could take solace in the knowledge that she had been right to trust that he wouldn't try to sabotage revolving door. From what she'd heard he'd completed his part of the attack with all his usual enthusiastic fervour, even going on seek and destroy sorties as he advanced. Although this seemed to have worked out, it proved how much of an aggressive attacker he was and how much he needed to be reined in during these sorts of operations.
She sighed as she pushed her thoughts about the boy from her mind, she wasn't going to let him spoil her day.
Hopefully, this foolish conflict would soon come to an end and she could get herself a decent posting for a change. Preferably with an office in Berlun with absolutely no reason for her to go near the front line ever again. She could almost imagine it, a tastefully decorated corner office with a big window looking out on the city. She would sit at a well-ordered mahogany desk, free of clutter and enjoy the calm monotony of doing paperwork. She could almost taste the coffee she would enjoy while sitting in her comfortable as she performed her duties. Nine to five working hours, good pay and no overtime. It might even end up more peaceful than her old life. She would have to arrange a transfer for Visha as well, of course, she couldn't let an assistant like that get away.
Yes, it had been a good couple of days. The only thing that had really spoiled it was that they had been ordered to assist in attack plan 177, the final phase of the operation that would finish off the remainder of the Republic's Rhine battlegroup. She had been hoping that it would take longer for the sub to transport them back and she'd be able to sit this one out. No such luck though, it seemed she would have to put in some overtime again. Of course, she'd made sure to show the appropriate amount of enthusiasm to the rest of the unit and the submarine crew. They were war maniacs after all, with the exception of second lieutenant Serabyakov, so it was only proper that their commander show some eagerness too.
Although the encirclement had been completed, it seemed there were a few pockets of resistance that was holding out and, in some places, trying to break the siege. Particularly in the northern part of the Rhine Lowlands, where the republic had more time to reorganise before the jaws of the trap had fallen shut on them. It was admittedly impressive that these troops had been able to adapt so quickly and put up so much of a fight. The Empire had been forced to bring in more troops to finish them quickly and thus, she and her company had been ordered to join the fray once more.
At least it's only interception duty she mused. They had been assigned the job of patrolling nearby airspace and intercepting any bogies that might enter their zone, leaving the work of finishing the republicans off to other friendly forces. She didn't really mind this job, it was easy enough and it was doubtful they'd have much to do with the enemy command in such disarray. She was more annoyed she had to do it in the first place, surely, they'd more than earned a rest by now. They'd done their part, it really should have been up to the other units to finish the job. She really didn't like having to put in overtime to bail out other departments.
Unsurprisingly, her own troops hadn't seemed upset about being forced to join the final push, accepting the orders with their usual enthusiasm. However, as their superior officer, she couldn't discount that they were only showing such willingness in front of her to mask their own annoyance at having to help clean up the mess. So, she buoyed their spirits by reminding them all of the hero's welcome they would receive when they got back and the mountain of free booze they were bound to receive. She'd also made a little joke about how that wasn't going to be much use to her as she could only drink coffee, they'd all laughed dutifully and soon the usual feeling of easy camaraderie seemed to fill the air between them.
She Let out a contented sigh, they were so close to ending this conflict. She was so close to escaping the madness of this war. She often wondered if the things she'd seen and experienced these past few years would have an effect on her psyche. In her past life, the Salaryman had seen plenty of news articles and documentaries about how those returning from serving in the armed forces began suffering from various psychological disorders due to the things they'd been through.
She thought herself lucky not to be similarly afflicted, perhaps her foreknowledge had prepared her in some way. Regardless, she was looking forward to returning to a normal life. She was sure the routine of a mundane existence would restore sanity for everyone and the world would go back to being rational as it should be. It would prove to Being X what humans really were. With this final attack, it'll all be over, and I'll have proven Being X wrong.
As they entered their patrol area, she exchanged a few words with the flight controller, and they began their sweep. As she'd expected it was quiet, any enemy mages or aircraft had already been scrambled and swiftly dealt with by the attacking forces, so they didn't have much to worry about. They were essentially only here as a precaution in case there were any stragglers and she found herself quietly pleased to be given such a peaceful assignment for once.
"Flight control to all units. Multiple unidentified magical signals detected in area 42, beware of optical sniping spells" the radio controller called causing Tanya to frown.
She must have jinxed it, that area was a little too close for comfort. She guessed it was too much to ask for a quiet day after all. She wondered whether she should send her team to investigate, it wasn't technically in her patrol area, but it was close enough that it might be expected of her to take a look. Then again, the unit hadn't been identified yet, and the controller was still trying to get through to them to determine exactly who they were. It was possible they were friendlies that had just strayed off course, if she went off to investigate without good reason it would seem like she was leaving her post and that would reflect badly on her.
"This is Fairy 01 to control. Is there any intel on who this mage unit might be with?" Tanya called, disguising the growing feeling of disquiet building in the pit of her stomach. Her instincts were telling her something was wrong, deep down she hoped she was just being paranoid.
"No indicators of affiliation, but we've received reports from several scouts that these are forces from the Allied Kingdom" the controller reported, causing Tanya to shiver reflexively.
Are the John Bulls finally joining the fight? she thought with a hint of alarm. The Allied Kingdom had been edging ever closer to intervening directly on the side of the Republicans since the fall of the Legadonian Entente Alliance. Everyone knew they were lending them supplies and their formidable navy had been performing maneuvers for a while now, acting as a show of sabre-rattling and an unofficial blockade of the Empire. Had they finally decided now was the time to step out of the shadows and act directly?
Then again, they still hadn't declared war yet, what kind of game were they playing? No doubt their government would be dissuaded from doing anything too rash once they learned what had become of the Republicans on the Rhine front. But that still left the question of what to do about these commonwealth mages. They must have been sent to investigate the increased activity in the area but how had they found out about the Empire's plans so quickly? It seemed the Allied Kingdom's intelligence gathering was as efficient as the rumours said.
She thought about their options, they couldn't allow a fully armed battalion of mages to roam around doing as they pleased. What if they took it upon themselves to interfere with the operation? However, this area was designated a combat area and the commonwealth mages were in contested airspace, the rules of war stated that neutral forces were to stay clear. Additionally, they weren't declaring their nationality or purpose to the flight controller, this meant as far as international law was concerned these mages were enemies and they were allowed to challenge them, even if their parent country hasn't declared a side yet.
"Requesting permission to engage the unit," Tanya called biting her lip. If they acted fast, they could see these mages off and discourage the John Bulls from sticking their noses where they don't belong.
"Negative," the controller replied. "We're deploying a security echelon. You are to maintain your distance and stand by until they arrive."
What are they thinking? Tanya thought angrily, they had to act quickly, they had the chance to engage them. Right now, they could exploit the element of surprise, it would waste too much time to wait for reinforcements, the enemy would surely be aware of their presence by then. Besides, they could be through the security cordon in that time, they should at least try to delay them until the security echelon arrives.
She swallowed her annoyance at the incompetent controller and began to radio an objection when suddenly a huge explosion filled the air behind her. She turned hurriedly and saw Lieutenant Grantz plunging towards the rough waters below. She whipped her head up towards the direction of the sound of the shot and saw a battalion of mages bearing down on them, the decision had been taken out of her hands, the Allied Kingdom's mages had attacked first.
"Scatter!" Tanya yelled urgently as a hail of disciplined magic-infused fire rained down on them from above.
Like the Republicans, the Mages of the Allied Kingdom and their puppet colonies eschewed the adaptable style of the Imperial pattern flight gear in favour of the seated type. Normally Tanya wouldn't trade in her extra manoeuvrability for anything but right now the extra accuracy that the stable platform of the broom-like gear provided the enemy with put them at a distinct advantage. Combined with the surprise of their attack, their superior numbers and disciplined fire, these mages had them at a serious disadvantage.
Her troops complied with their usual professionalism, unfortunately, the company had lost their coordination, the incoming fire had been too much. She reported their situation to the controller urgently before jinking out of the way of more shots headed their way.
"We're outnumbered, should we try to disengage?" asked Koenig echoing her own initial thoughts. It was nice to hear that her troops still had common sense despite their bloodlust but running was probably a riskier option for them. If they wanted to get through this, they would have to hold out for reinforcements. It was like her first mission in Norden all over again but at least she wasn't on her own this time.
"If we run, they'll chase us" she growled through gritted teeth. "I don't want their bayonets up our asses. Form up on me!"
Again, her subordinates that could, followed her orders quickly and soon the company formed around her wheeled around towards the enemy. She forced some extra mana into her gear and accelerated, trusting her troops to follow her lead. They had to seize the initiative and do something to help negate the enemy's numerical advantage. They had to get closer.
They returned fire as they closed, focusing on one group at a time. She didn't expect to cause too much damage but that wasn't her primary goal. It was much more difficult to fire in such a disciplined way while moving on the seated flight gear, they would have to stop firing and scatter to avoid the return fire disrupting their formation. Every enemy mage dodging fire was a mage not firing at them and in Tanya's opinion that was almost a victory in itself.
They were undoubtedly professional soldiers however, and they shifted out of the firing line quickly before moving to regroup. It seemed the Allied Kingdom's marine mages lived up to their reputation for skill and toughness and soon the whole enemy battalion was moving to try and keep their distance. The enemy commander must be a smart one she thought, he's obviously not keen on giving up his advantage at range. Tanya still had the advantage of speed however, and she urged her troops to speed up and close in on them.
Now they were amongst their foes, the enemy's numbers worked against them. They could no longer use their coordinated focus fire to overwhelm them and take them out piece by piece, and the chances of them hitting their own troops was drastically increased causing them to pick their shots more carefully. Tanya and her company, however, were presented with a target-rich environment and they were determined to take advantage of this fact as much as they possibly could.
She saw Koenig and Neumann fell two enemies amongst the gun flashes and black smoke. Soon Visha added one to her tally too and Tanya couldn't help but feel proud of her company of Aces. Their success wasn't to last however, as once again the enemy regrouped and platoons began strafing them with devastating focus firing once again.
She saw Wiess's barrier flare-up before being engulfed in an explosion and for a moment she feared he had been lost. He soon emerged from the black smog however, looking a little singed but otherwise unhurt. By now most of them had taken a few hits to their shields and they were all undoubtedly burning through their mana, but they were still holding strong. Still, they couldn't do this forever, the enemy still outnumbered them, and those superior numbers were already beginning to tell.
"Reinforcements are still ten minutes away" reported her adjutant as if reading her mind. She bit her lip with frustration, they couldn't last ten minutes like this, they needed to do something and fast.
"We can fly higher than them, increase your altitude and fire from above," she yelled above the noise of battle.
As much as she didn't like the man, it was at times like this that Tanya was thankful for the Type 97 orb the Schugel had developed. The extra speed and altitude it allowed was far greater than anything the other major powers could manage, and it meant that they didn't have to play by the same rules as they did. The enemy still fired up towards them however, they would need to regroup again if they didn't want to lose what advantage they had. It was time to give themselves some breathing room, so she ordered the company into the cover of the clouds above the flight limit of the Commonwealth mages.
The cloud gave them a moment of respite and the chance to regroup, but they couldn't linger for long. Although they couldn't follow, she knew the enemy would be waiting outside for any sign of them. The cloud was anything but bulletproof, and the wind was already moving their cover away from them, they had to counterattack now.
With a small and silent gesture, she summoned her troops to form up on her once again and she picked a magical signal at random. Again, she willed some mana into her flight gear and forced herself to accelerate, sensing her faithful subordinates behind her. As she burst through the cloud cover, she opened fire spraying two enemy mages with her looted submachine gun. She saw their barriers shatter in front of her before they exploded and the two unmoving bodies plunged down into the murky grey waters below.
Diving below the enemy group she quickly, wheeled back upwards and fired into the group again felling another enemy as she swung back upwards. A glance over her shoulder told her that Visha was still by her side but the rest of the company was beginning to become disorganised again, there was just too much fire for her depleted company to take. Where the hell are those reinforcements!
The marine mages weren't about to let this opportunity pass them by and soon Tanya and Visha found themselves being targeted once again by two enemies trying to chase them down. Tanya forced her flight boots up into the air and flipped herself over before bringing her weapon up at the marines. The two fell to her barrage of fire and Tanya let out a sigh of relief as she used the few seconds to reassess the battlefield.
She didn't get that time however as suddenly another mage appeared out of a nearby cloud and charged towards them and Tanya and her adjutant were forced to make a run for it. This mage was different from the others however, he was wearing the ski-like flight gear of the Entente Alliance. She didn't have the chance to dwell on this any further however as the mage fired a spray of magic-infused slug at them which exploded violently behind them, causing them to lose control momentarily and fly forwards.
"A trench shotgun?" Tanya yelled in surprise. "That's a treaty violation you son of a bitch!"
Cheating Bastards! Thought Tanya. Along with chemical weaponry, trench shotguns were banned under the Rules of War on Land Combat Treaty for being inhumane. In the hands of a regular soldier, the weapon barely left enough left to identify a body, in the hands of a mage it would leave nothing but a red mist. Accuracy didn't even need to be a concern for this weapon, its spray could easily hit them if they were too close. They needed to gain some distance and fast.
"GO!" She yelled to Visha as she forced herself to accelerate forward hoping the second Lieutenant would keep up and stay out of range too. Behind them, explosion after explosion followed them as the mage doggedly followed them. What's with this guy! He won't leave us alone, we can't shake him!
"Major we got you covered!" Called Koenig as he Neumann and Katz moved up behind the Legadonian and Tanya felt a grin begin to form on her lips. Who needs a God or a cursed orb when you have people like this watching your back?
Her feeling of triumph soon turned sour however, as, in an eerie parody of her own manoeuvre, the mage shot upward and looped round before firing a shot into the approaching platoon. Tanya swore as all three plummeted towards the ground, infuriated at the sight of her precious human resources being so casually cut down.
"They got Koenig and Neumann!" Yelled an equally enraged Wiess as he charged forward towards the mage. Unlike her however, he had lost his cool and was no longer thinking straight. The reckless charge had put him in the firing line of an entire company of commonwealth mages, there was no way he could survive that much firepower.
She tried to yell a warning, but the incensed man was unable to hear her. She couldn't afford to lose any more troops right now and she would need her deputy to coordinate with the remainder of their scattered company if they had any hope of holding out until help arrived, especially with the shotgun waving madman around. As much as she didn't want to, it seemed if they were going to survive, she would have to use it.
"Dear Lord," she began choking the words out as the type 95 began to activate. "If I should fly through the heavens, then it shall be to approach your throne."
She felt a surge of magical energy rush through her as well as a foggy sensation overtaking her mind. It took all her willpower to force away the mind-altering corruption that Being X was filtering into her mind and all her focus to deal with the task at hand.
"Move it!" she shouted as she smashed Wiess out of the firing line with unearthly speed milliseconds before a barrage of mage fire impacted her shield and engulfed her in smoke. She shot out immediately before they could fire another volley, she may have the unearthly power of the type 95 but now she was isolated and alone. Even the cursed orb would have its limits and Tanya was not keen on testing them out. She was only using a fraction of its potential at the moment and she could already feel the malign influence of Being X seeping into her mind. She prayed for the reinforcements to get here soon. Pray what the hell am I thinking!
The Legadonian mage appeared again, firing on her once more. The shot narrowly missed but was close enough to cause a rush of turbulent air, causing her to tumble backwards. As she righted herself, she returned fire with a burst of her own artillery spells to give the mage a taste of his own medicine. They exploded in the air around him, but the mage was skilled and he deftly dodged them as he carried on his unceasing advance towards her.
She swore while reloading her weapon and rolled in the air to avoid another burst of incoming fire. It shouldn't be possible, somehow, despite the type 95 this mage was keeping up with her and matching her move for move. He stuck close to her, it felt almost like she was towing him on a line. He ignored everything else on the battlefield and focussed entirely on her, as if his only goal was to take her down.
Worse still, his close proximity meant her only opening was between the explosive scatter shots when he reloaded. She let out a burst of return fire at every opportunity but as soon as he raised his weapon once more, she had to focus on evading once again. If she could just get a bit of distance either she or one of the others could get a shot on him but while he was so close, she couldn't do anything without a high risk of taking a direct hit from the shotgun.
She didn't know if the type 95 could handle that kind of damage and she didn't dare find out. Even now the cursed object caused her to hear choirs praising the Lord God in her head, she could feel Being X was poisoning her mind, but she could do nothing about it if she wanted to survive. If she poured any more power into the cursed orb, she feared her own mind would never return. She had had to act fast if she wanted to both survive and maintain her free will.
She felt another blast wave behind her and turned abruptly to charge at her foe while emptying her magazine in his direction. There was no time to aim, instead, she sprayed indiscriminately in an attempt to throw the man off balance. It did little damage but did succeed in throwing off his aim and rather than suffer a direct hit she was engulfed in black smoke.
She turned quickly raising her weapon just in time to see the mage emerge through the smoke. She didn't hesitate and squeezed the trigger but to her horrified surprise, nothing happened except for the soft click that indicated her weapon was empty.
Fortunately, the Legadonian mage had made the same mistake and the two stared at each other down for what seemed like an eternity. It had only been a fraction of a second however, and in that brief moment, Tanya started to move. She reached behind her for her combat knife while lifting her leg upwards with all her strength, kicking the banned weapon from the man's hands. As she spun back around, she launched her blade forward and buried it deep in the man's chest. I win Bastard! She thought with a satisfied grin but to her surprise, the man didn't move, he didn't seem phased at all.
The grin slipped from her face as the man's hand shot out and grasped her wrist. Feeling slightly panicked, she tried to pull herself away, but his grip was like a vice and showed no sign of loosening. She looked up at the man and saw him grinning down at her evilly, his one uncovered eye glowed gold and burned with a fanatic's zeal. He exuded a strange and uncomfortable aura that seemed strangely familiar. It was at that moment, she realised she'd seen this man before.
"Wait!" she said as her eyes widened in surprise and dread, "I know who you are. I killed you!"
She couldn't believe her eyes, it was the mage from Osfjord. But that shouldn't be possible! She'd shoved a bayonet through his stomach and left him on the seabed, he couldn't possibly be alive. Despite her rational minds insistence that this was some sort of trick her instincts told her it was true. He was battered, scarred and weatherworn, he looked older and wore an eyepatch over his left eye, but it was most definitely him.
"God has brought me back!" he growled at her as she felt a build-up of magical energy.
She now knew why the man's uncomfortable aura felt so familiar, she'd felt it before from Wilhelm's doppelganger in Letzenbourg. This man was another of Being X's pawns, but the would-be god had turned this one loose on her. This whole thing was a set up by that Devil.
The madman is going to self-destruct! He's a damned suicide bomber! Thought Tanya as she struggled to break free of the man's grip, while he fed ever more mana into his computation orb. It wouldn't be long before it went critical, but she couldn't break free, she was going to die.
Suddenly a shot rang out and an intense sharp pain erupted in her arm. At the same time, the man stopped his mana build and let her go of her and stared at her with a dumbfounded expression. He too had a vicious wound in his arm that was now dripping with crimson ichor.
It took a moment for Tanya to realise what had happened herself, some distance away from them Visha hovered with her eye trained down the sights of her rifle. Despite the wound in her arm, Tanya had never been happier to see her adjutant. She had taken the shot to force the Legadonian to release her, she owed Visha her life.
Grunting through the pain, she quickly slotted a new magazine into her weapon, raised it and unloaded every shot she could into the monster that being X had set on her. His barrier fell quickly to the barrage on full auto and his chest soon became peppered with bullet holes before blood erupted from the wounds. As she fired, she unleashed all her fear, fury and desire for vengeance on being X and did not stop until the weapon once again clicked to tell her that it's ammo had once again run dry.
The man coughed out a mouth full of blood and his head slumped forward as he hung in the air for a few moments. It seemed as though the entire warzone had stopped to watch this fight reach its climax and the air was quiet and still. Suddenly the man looked up once again and fixed her with his fanatical grin one last time before using the last of his strength to detonate the mana he had been building.
Tanya braced herself and put all the power she had left into a protective barrier. She was fortunate, the hail of hate-filled fire she had poured into the Legadonian man had pushed the two further apart, giving her just enough space for her to survive the blast. Still, she felt her barrier collapse and a wave of heat wash over her.
She coughed as the smoke began to clear, feeling slightly cooked by the blast. By now Visha, Wiess and the remainder of the company had begun to form back up on her. She nodded thanks to Visha, feeling genuinely glad to have the girl watching her back and feeling similarly relieved to find that nothing had happened to her. But it wasn't over yet, there was still nearly a battalion of marine mages left to deal with.
"Looks like we're a little late" a familiar cheerful impish voice chimed in over the radio. "Major Schwarzkopf, please take three companies and see to our uninvited guests, I'll see if I can lend a hand here."
Tanya suppressed a groan as she looked over to see a new battalion of friendly mages approaching from the coastline. Of all the people they could have sent to reinforce her, they had to send Wilhelm. What was he even doing here? Wasn't he supposed to be taking out the Maginette line and finishing off the republic? Not that she wasn't glad of the support, they certainly needed it, but the boy would no doubt be insufferably smug after this.
She glanced around and saw the remaining enemy quickly disengage and fall back, they obviously didn't fancy their chances now that they had lost their numerical superiority and a tired unit was always at a disadvantage compared to fresh troops. She recognised the professional and practised movements as the three companies split off to give chase and she realised the reinforcing battalion was the rest of the 203rd. Somehow, Wilhelm had managed to get a hold of them all and bring them here. Although she wasn't especially happy with him leading them, she was glad to have people she could trust dealing with the troublesome mages.
More good news came as one of the companies that the little colonel had left behind fished out the survivors of the battle. Koenig, Neumann and Grantz all looked worse for wear as they were carried up to rejoin them, but they had endured nonetheless, despite the punishing amount of damage they had taken. Katz and Motyl hadn't been so lucky however and Tanya frowned at the great crime of her precious human resources being robbed from her.
Wilhelm floated up to her in what she could only describe as the aerial equivalent of a saunter, with a strange cheerful smile on his face. He seemed different somehow, like he was brimming with a barely concealed excitement. She wondered for a moment if that meant he'd succeeded in his quest but as he closed, she dismissed the idea as she saw the familiar glimmer of desperation in his emerald eyes. Still, something had obviously changed with the boy and she couldn't help wondering what that could be.
She prepared herself for whatever asinine comment the little colonel was about to make, preemptively biting back the acerbic remark she would no doubt be tempted to give in reply. Although he had arrived later than she would have liked, he had still brought the reinforcements, she was thankful for that at least. Besides she now felt exhausted and wasn't in the mood for an argument with the boy.
To her surprise however, his expression morphed into undisguised and surprisingly genuine concern as he regarded her. His eyes studied her with worry as they darted from her face to her injured arm. Rather than the smug comment she had been expecting, he remained quiet and instead reached into a satchel attached to his belt and produced a first aid kit before tending to her wounded arm with surprising proficiency.
"What happened?" he asked softly as he concentrated on bandaging her arm.
Tanya felt wrongfooted and a little disconcerted by Wilhelm's sudden overt display of concern. She had expected him to make a big deal about how he had just rescued her in his usual self-assured way. Instead, he was tending her wounds and being quiet, it seemed out of character for him. Her mind couldn't quite keep up with the sudden strange change of behaviour and instead of answering his question, she found herself asking her own.
"What are you doing here?"
The boy didn't answer her immediately, instead, she felt a small infusion of mana flow into her arm and she recognised the feeling of a simple healing formula taught as basic first aid to all combat mages. Reaching into his pocket, he revealed a handkerchief that he used to begin wiping blood from her face that she hadn't even realised it was there. Meanwhile, Wilhelm fixed her with a hard and severe gaze, and she felt a strange unease at the sight of the trickster being so serious.
"For the moment, I'm tending to your wounds" he began explaining. "I heard your request for reinforcements, we were closer than the security echelon, so we took their place."
"Now Major" he continued emphasising her rank, "I'd like to hear your report."
Tanya felt even more stunned at the little colonel's strange change in demeanour, he was even acting like a proper officer! However, two lifetimes of acting as the model employee meant she soon found herself reporting recent events almost automatically, despite her reluctance to consider Wilhelm a superior.
As she relayed recent events, the little colonel finished tending to her wounds and then continued to listen to her account thoughtfully. As she described her encounter with the Leagadonian mage, she deliberately left out the strange unearthly aura the man gave off and the fact that the man had seemingly been resurrected from the dead. There were too many people around to hear it and the connection to Being X was something she had to keep from even her close comrades in the 203rd. People would surely think she was insane if she started claiming a self-proclaimed god was bringing people back to life in an effort to sabotage her.
As she finished her account, she noticed that Wilhelm was staring at the computation orb around her neck with a deep and pensive frown. She wondered if he somehow knew she'd used the Type 95, she hadn't mentioned it, but he'd acted strangely around the cursed orb before.
"It seems that even you aren't immortal, you should take more care of yourself," he mumbled quietly as he glared at the orb a few moments more before turning away and staring up at the sky.
"So, the Allied Kingdom has finally tipped their hand," said Wilhelm absently without even a hint of surprise. It was almost as if he'd expected it. His words hung in the air for a moment when suddenly the usual cheerful smirk reappeared on the boy's face and he grinned back over to Tanya. "Still, I don't think it'll make much difference, it might even be a good thing in the long run."
Tanya wasn't sure if she felt more relieved or irritated as she saw the normal Bratty Wilhelm return. She wasn't sure she liked the serious and responsible Wilhelm, even if she had spent most of the time serving with him wishing he would act that way. It somehow seemed wrong for him to be so genuine and honest, she'd become so used to his front that without it interacting with him felt almost uncomfortable.
That being said his usual manner wasn't exactly an improvement. Aside from his irritatingly smug grin, the tell-tale flicker of mischief had returned to his eyes, it was a clear sign that he was up to something again. She found herself searching his words for some hidden meaning she might not have picked up on. He often hid his motives between half-truths and wordplay, she sometimes thought he was challenging her to find them.
She came up blank, however. It was true that it was unlikely that the Allied kingdom would be able to contribute to the conflict in any meaningful way at this stage. With the fall of the Republic, they would have nowhere to operate from on the continent. Although they had their navy, they couldn't win this war without boots on the ground and the Imperial army wouldn't allow them that luxury. They would either be forced to sue for peace or would claim this incident was some sort of mistake and retreat to their miserable little island. Either way, they would be powerless to interfere with any plans the Empire had for Europa, especially with the embarrassing failure of their intervention. Still, she couldn't help but feel like she'd missed something in the boy's words.
By now Major Schwarzkopf and the rest of the 203rd had returned, Tanya smiled and nodded a polite greeting at her former commander. She was glad the man had been promoted, he deserved it. He had been a good superior who valued the lives of his men and understood the situation on a strategic and tactical level, Although while serving on the Rhine, he had always been wise enough not to be too explicit when saying what he thought about the strategic situation they'd been put in. Before the General staff had been reorganised, there had been some bad decisions made that had made his life on the Rhine front particularly difficult. Still, she had learned alot from the man and it was nice to see him doing well.
"We've sent them packing sir," he began returning a quick nod of greeting to Tanya before continuing. "We really should get back to supporting General von Falken."
"Very good, we'll hand over the rest of the 203rd to Tanya while we're here," Wilhelm replied with a wide grin as he casually ignored the second half of the man's sentence. "Oh, and get Ahrens to send some trucks over to the coast, it looks like Degurechaff and her troops could do with some rest on the way back."
Tanya stared at the little charlatan and wondered exactly what had caused his alter ego to swing back in such force. Why was he being so blasé? He had obviously been ordered to use the rest of the 203rd to support the General's attack on the remainder of the republican forces, but he was casually disregarding those orders, seemingly on a whim. She found her eyes narrowing at him with suspicion, he was definitely up to something again.
"But sir!" Schwarzkopf began to protest looking equally confused. "General von Falken ordered us to…"
"We are assigned to the general staff, not western command" the boy interjected. "That means I decide what we do, Erich doesn't need mage support and I'd like to see our heroes get back safely. I'll head back with my company and the tanks afterwards and help Falken out."
Schwarzkopf looked to her for help, obviously not used to dealing with the boy's eccentricities. Although Wilhelm was technically correct that he didn't have to follow the orders of western command, it would certainly be frowned upon if he didn't. Using his resources to escort her and her company rather than reinforcing General von Falken was a borderline abuse of power. Although the latest reports said they were easily dealing with the remaining republicans, it was better to be safe than sorry. Besides, with her suspicions about Wilhelm's motives rekindled, she wasn't sure she could take the risk of letting the boy act unchallenged.
"No need, I'm sure we can make our way back on our own," she said, narrowing her eyes at the boy.
"Really Major, you can be so stubborn" he began with a satisfied smirk and she suddenly felt like she'd somehow fallen into a trap. "I suppose I'll have to make it an order then."
Tanya gritted her teeth in frustration, he'd left her with no choice. Technically they all fell under the jurisdiction of the General staff rather than western command and whether she liked it or not, Wilhelm was the highest-ranking officer present. Normally she would have jumped at the chance to be sent away from the combat zone early but knowing Wilhelm was concocting some scheme again had her worried. She couldn't think of what it might be, it was too difficult to think like he did. Wilhelm was always playing a different game to everyone else.
Wilhelm escorted them to the coast and waited with them for the trucks to arrive while chatting amiably with everyone. She sighed with frustration, sometimes it felt like Wilhelm was hosting a party not leading a battalion of soldiers. Once they'd loaded up, he waved almost mockingly at her as they drove away before he took off and disappeared up into the sky.
She leant back in her seat and sighed as she felt the fatigue begin to take over and she began to replay the events of the day in her head. The brush with the Legadonian mage had shaken her more than she cared to admit and the sickening aura of being X that surrounded him had been unnerving. It had been too similar to Wilhelm's doppelganger, she wondered if she should warn the little colonel. Even if he was up to no good again, she didn't want to see him come to any particular harm, especially not from Being X's minions.
She shook the thoughts from her head, dismissing the idea. Just because Being X had brought one of her foes back from the dead, didn't mean that thing would do the same again. She was probably being paranoid, she probably shouldn't worry about it.
XxxxxxX
June 12th Unified Year1925
Allied Kingdom hospital ship HMHS Waterford, Albish Channel
The Allied Kingdom had been supporting the François Republic and the Legadonia Entente alliance with intelligence and supplies since the outbreak of this terrible conflict. Since war would inevitably lead to wounded, one of the first things the island nation had provided was medical supplies and personnel. As the war drew on, the existing Republican infrastructure could not cope with the massive amounts of wounded soldiers returning from the front. Even with the temporary field hospitals, the republican medics were unable to keep up with the demand and so the Allied Kingdom had begun sending hospital ships to evacuate some of the wounded to be treated back on Albion.
Doctor Wilfred Brooks had volunteered to serve on one of these ships as soon as he finished medical school. He'd thought of it as an excellent opportunity to gain experience that he would never get anywhere else. If he ever wanted a job at the Londinum royal college hospital, he would need every advantage he could get and the hospital ship provided him with the chance to really make a difference. Besides, he'd always had a slightly romantic notion of the sea and that combined with his desire to help people, it had made the whole thing seem almost like an adventure.
He now felt foolish for having ever thought that way and he had come to despise war for what it did to the poor people that were caught up in it. When their ship had first reached Brest naval port, they had been immediately inundated with requests to take the wounded from the nearby hospital. There had been too many to deal with and Captain Cropper had been forced to set up a triage centre, they now had to prioritise certain people to take back with them. There wasn't enough space for everyone.
Brooks had been sent to the nearby hospital with a few other medics and what he had seen was horrifying. There weren't enough beds for all the wounded and men were slumped on gurneys and piles of blankets in the halls. Soldiers reached out to him and begged for pain relief as he passed, at first, he stopped to help them, but a grizzled and tired looking Republican doctor pulled him away, telling him not to waste the supplies. There wasn't enough to go around.
It had shocked him that it was so bad so far behind the lines. He hadn't even expected it to be this bad near the front, but the Brest naval port was as far away from the front lines as geographically possible. He didn't understand how it could be so bad. He'd asked one of the republican doctors about it, apparently since the collapse of the Rhine front the wounded had been shipped here as quickly as possible in the hopes of evacuating them to Albion. The Republic had all but given up looking after their own wounded, they needed the Allied Kingdom for that now.
Brooks was given the thankless job of choosing who they would take and who they would have to leave behind. He had to turn away both those that would be unlikely to survive the trip back and those that were not hurt enough to warrant taking with them. He felt sorry for many in the latter group, he had seen several who had been mentally shattered by the trauma they had faced on the front lines. These men needed to be sent somewhere quiet to rest but his instructions had been to only take those that could be healed up and sent back to fight again. It was deeply upsetting to leave so many behind. Perhaps that was why he had been so insistent about taking the boy back with them.
He had first seen the comatose child whilst helping move some soldiers suffering from magically induced burns to the Waterford. He was young, perhaps only nine or ten and had suffered horrendous injuries. Apparently, he had been found washed up on a riverbank near Letzenbourg, he had been unconscious, and half-drowned. It was a miracle that he was still alive at all.
Some truly despicable person had beaten, stabbed and sprayed him with bullets before dumping him in a river to die. How could they be so cruel? He couldn't understand how anyone could do something so terrible to a child.
He had been even more horrified to find out that the boy was actually a soldier. He had been wearing the flight suit of a Letzenbourg mage when he had been found although no one knew which side the poor child had been fighting on. Brooks had heard the rumours that the Imperials and their ally employed child mages, but he hadn't expected they were evil enough to send them to their deaths on the battlefield. How could they be so barbaric? It made him feel sick to his stomach.
Brooks had vowed there and then he would get the boy to safety, despite his instructions. He would save this poor child and see to it that when he woke from his coma, he would be far away from the horrors of war.
There had been some resistance to his efforts to get the child transferred onto the HMHS Waterford however. The military attaché wanted them to prioritise soldiers who could eventually be put back into the fight and he flat out refused Brooks' request to bring the child aboard. Additionally, the child's injuries were deemed too severe and they expected he wouldn't survive the trip across the sea. In the end, he'd had to appeal to Captain Cropper directly and had promised the man that he would take full responsibility for the child and his care.
He wasn't sure if they had taken pity on him or if they'd simply been fed up with arguing with him but eventually, they relented, and the boy was now on board the ship. But that was where the good news had ended.
Since being taken aboard, the child's condition had deteriorated rapidly. Brooks had spent days tending to the child but to no avail, the boy simply wasn't responding to the treatment. By now he'd run out of ideas and he felt powerless to help the boy as he sat by the child's bedside and watched his young life slip away. There was only one thing left he could do.
"Please Lord," he whispered quietly as he bowed his head in prayer. "Please save this poor boy, he doesn't deserve this fate."
Brooks couldn't claim to be the most pious of men, true he attended church every Sunday, but it had always just been something he did because it was expected of him rather than for any particular devotion to god. But in that little cabin, Brooks felt something that day. It felt like a warm loving light washed over him for a moment and he found himself opening his eyes and looking for its source.
The room was still empty however and he wondered if he'd simply imagined it but as he turned back to the child, he knew he had witnessed a miracle, his prayer had been answered. The boy's eyes flickered open and he stared up at him with a serene smile before he opened his mouth to speak.
"Let us pray together"
Authors Notes
Sorry I haven't been able to update quite as regularly as I would have liked. Unfortunately, while everyone else in the world is being forced to stay at home, I've actually had to work way more so haven't had as much time to actually write anything. I am still working on this as much as I can, when I can so please be patient with me.
This was originally going to be a full Tanya chapter but I ended up getting carried away with the fight with Anson Sioux and the Commonwealth mages so I knew I wouldn't have enough space for the next Tanya part. Instead, I decided it was time to get Damian back on his feet.
It was also nice to write Wilhelm being actually concerned about Tanya but as seen from her perspective. She still hasn't quite figured out that Wilhelm actually cares about her in his own weird way and this will have been the first time he's ever seen her injured. So, it's a bit of a shock for him. It won't stop him from trying to keep her out of his way while he's up to no good, however.
As always thank you for reading and I hope you are still enjoying this.
Xanen