Once the shock of the ubermensch's disclosure wore off the Allied High Command came to the realization that powerful as the new weapons might be they ultimately would have little effect on the result of the war. Germany remained outmatched in terms of numbers, resources and production. With the secret to creating the Catalyst secure in British hands what should have been a miracle for Germany was reduced to a brief window for them to cause more destruction. The more cynical of the Western military commanders noted that if anything this temporary renewal of Germany's fortunes might serve to put an end to the Soviet threat. After those two nations had finally bled each other dry the rest of the Allies would be able to advance with their own enhanced armies and restore peace to Europe once and for all.

This was not to say that it would be an easy victory. The German ubermensch forces might be limited but there was still nothing in the Allied arsenal that could hold back a Battleship. For now they had to figure out how to preserve as many of their conventional forces as possible until the First Enhanced Army was finally ready to enter the field. There were three main advantages to the Allied efforts that were being discussed at the highest levels in Washington and London.

The first was of course the Catalyst itself. Production continued to proceed in Britain, with well-vetted experts being flown in from the United States to learn the process themselves. It was slow going, making sure that every person and site involved was secure, but the British did not want to fall victim to the same sort of espionage that had garnered them the Catalyst in the first place. Already forward thinking individuals had realized that keeping control over the Catalyst in the hands of as few nations as possible would be the only way to ensure any kind of stability after the war. A little caution now might prevent immeasurable suffering later.

It was also known to a select few that the Allies had been working on a 'wonder weapon' of their own. Hidden away in the New Mexican desert the scientists working on the atomic bomb were now facing a new set of challenges. The bomb had been meant for use against large targets such as a city, preferably being deployed from a bomber to take advantage of the incredible force of the air burst. Battleships were a distinctly smaller and more mobile target and rendered aircraft useless within the range of their halo abilities. Alternative delivery methods needed to be explored. Frantic calculations were being performed to figure out exactly how much force was delivered at any given distance from the initial explosion, though what would be enough to actually injure or kill a Battleship was still anyone's guess. Combined with the need to test the plutonium bomb in order to ensure that it worked at all left the scientists with few restful moments.

Finally there was perhaps the greatest advantage in the Allied arsenal. Through the work of the decryption teams at Bletchley Park and elsewhere it was possible to read almost all German communications shortly after they were sent. Troop movements, Battleship movements, numbers of candidates found, amount of Catalyst being produced. That the Japanese and Italians were to be furnished with their own enhanced forces, with naval forces being dispatched to try and intercept the shipments to the former. All this information and more was being freely given by the Germans themselves, who remained convinced that their secrets were safe and secure. While the Allied leaders had to remain cautious in how they used this information, careful to always have a plausible alternate source so that the Germans would not grow suspicious, it was a godsend for planning how to neutralize the ubermensch threat.

All of that intelligence did not come without certain problems though. There was the mountain of decrypts that had already been filed away that needed to be sorted through again in order to check for any mention of Sankt or his project. If they could find everywhere that he had visited and everyone that he had spoke to it might help fill in some of the blanks in what Stephanie and Lupin had reported. The nature of the Battleships in the field also made them difficult to address. It was well and good to know that Sieglinde had been dispatched to disrupt the Western Front and to recover German captives but the mobility of the Battleship made it difficult to tell just where exactly she would be at any given moment. Troubling questions were raised by the new information coming out of Germany. What exactly was Project Lightning? One could surmise that it likely had to do with some new use of the halo ability but details were in short supply. Why were certain candidates being diverted to the 'Opera House?' That might be for a new form of Catalyst or for a specific type of training. Everything was recorded and cross referenced time and time again in the hopes that Germany's next step would reveal itself.

Politics played an increasingly troublesome role. With the loss of Roosevelt the United States found itself bereft of a skilled leader of many years. It also felt the sting of the aftermath of Roosevelt's tight control over foreign policy and his lack of concern over keeping others informed about the details of agreements and decisions that had been made. In Truman the British found themselves saddled with an allied leader who was relatively inexperienced and unknown, needing to be brought up to speed on almost all of the sensitive developments of the war. There was potential now to move the balance of power between the two nations back towards Britain, at least to the point where they were nominally equal, so long as the new President was still learning the ropes. Above all was the issue of what to do about the Soviets. No one thought it a good idea to give them the secret to making the Catalyst but it was clear that if the Germans were to be kept occupied in the East there would have to be some kind of enhanced forces to hold them. Just how many should be provided and how remained a point of contention.

While the generals and politicians bickered and planned the average soldier sitting along Germany's western border was faced with a much more immediate threat. Sieglinde had a relatively small area that she could attack during her active hours but that was of little comfort for anyone caught in it. Entire units lost in the blink of an eye, supply depots and transit camps going dark suddenly. All things that made the soldiers increasingly nervous. Orders to retreat had been given but moving tens of thousands of men and their supplies took time. The single Battleship with a few panzermensch to cover her could outpace any large formation and had more than enough firepower to be devastatingly effective.

Bill Harper was one of the unfortunate sets of boots on the ground that had to deal with this situation. The sun had gone down for the day but he was still hard at work, one of a number of men trying to get as much of the supplies around them packed up as they could. There had been reports that the Germans were taking advantage of the cover that Sieglinde provided to send out lightly armed convoys to commandeer what the Allies left behind. Harper's orders were to save as much as he could and burn the rest.

For his part Harper could barely believe what was going on. He could understand retreating because you were outnumbered or at risk of being outmaneuvered. All they were facing now was one woman. It was not that he did not believe the briefings that had been given about what the ubermensch and Battleships were capable of, it was that it was happening at all that made him question reality. Any minute now he expected to wake up from some terrible dream. Had anyone told him a few months before that he would soon miss how the war was going Harper would have thought that they were crazy. At least when it had just been Germans shooting at him there was something he could do. What exactly was the way to deal with someone who could shrug off artillery fire?

The precautions that had been put in place around the depot did serve to ease Harper's mind at least. They had sentries posted and a few tanks dug in at key points. That would be enough to keep anything short of Sieglinde herself off of them. All that remained was to get everything loaded up and by morning the depot could be abandoned. He might not get much sleep over the next few days but putting more miles between him and Germany was worth it. Sieglinde's last reported location had been moving away from them so there was little chance that they would be meeting the superwoman. It was almost a shame, Harper had heard that she was a real looker.

When the sound of gunfire broke out Harper nearly jumped out of his skin. Everyone dropped what they were doing, running to grab weapons and take up better positions to defend themselves. Picking up his rifle Harper told himself that it was just one of the German convoys trying their luck. The Krauts had picked the wrong camp to mess with, that was for sure.

At least that was what Harper thought until he saw one of the tanks go sailing overhead.

"Jesus fucking Christ." Was all that Harper had time to get out before he heard the sickening crunch of metal as the tank slammed into the forest on the far side of the camp. There were shouts of alarm from behind them too. It looked like they found themselves surrounded.

That was when she strolled up, surveying the scene around her with as much urgency and concern as if she were out at the market. Sieglinde was a lot bigger than Harper had thought. She was a pretty woman even with the severe look on her face. Which turned to anger as a few men opened fire on her. There was a flash of blue light as those men were burnt away to nothingness. Harper froze up himself, watching as Sieglinde brushed off the heavy overcoat she was wearing. From the numerous holes and tears in it this was not the first time she had come under fire. Clearing her throat she shouted one word in a heavy German accent.

"Surrender!"

It did not take long for one of the officers to call out for everyone to comply and lay down their weapons. The order was passed around the camp even as screams continued from parts of the perimeter. Slowly, carefully, Harper laid down his rifle and put his hands up. As they stepped out into the open Sieglinde pointed for them all to line up in an open spot where she could see them.

A few more Germans walked up, larger than regular men though not nearly as big as Sieglinde. One still had the blue light flickering around his head. The newcomer said something in German to Sieglinde that she did not respond to. Though Harper did not speak a single word of the language from the tone he could guess that it was an insult levied at himself and his fellow soldiers. Sieglinde just stared the other German down until his halo of light flickered away and he hurriedly made his way elsewhere. If she had looked angry during the attack now she just looked uncomfortable. Grabbing a metal barrel to use as a makeshift seat Sieglinde continued to watch over them as the rest of the survivors were corralled to the same spot.

As time passed Harper felt sweat begin to trickle down his forehead and neck. Knowing now what a glance from Sieglinde could do he wanted to be anywhere but under her gaze. From the looks of it she did not particularly care whether they lived or died. Finally the sound of engines approaching caused her to stand up and look away. A collective sigh of relief passed through the men around Harper. Whatever the Germans had in store for them at least they would keep their lives for now.

The trucks that pulled up looked American and had American markings on them. Even the men who got out of them were wearing American uniforms. Except these men raised their weapons to cover the prisoners. One began to speak in passable English, his accent making it apparent that he was most certainly not American.

"You load all of this," The man waved his arms around at the supplies. "You drive, you follow us. Try to fight, run? We kill you all."

So that was to be it. The Germans got themselves supplies and trucks complete with prisoners to do the heavy lifting for them. Harper had to admit that it was a smart move. Using stolen American vehicles would keep these convoys from getting fired upon immediately. Somehow he figured that the Germans did not much care that it was also illegal under the rules of war. Hopefully they retained enough decency to not reward their captives with a bullet to the head for playing along. Nothing was out of the question by this point.

With the situation under control Sieglinde and the other super-Germans disappeared off into the night. Harper wondered if they were running around on their own or if they had just left their transportation far enough away that it had not alerted the sentries. With his new taskmasters starting to shout he stopped thinking about that and returned to loading up the supplies.

From beginning to end the attack itself had taken no more than five or ten minutes. About that much more waiting for the trucks to arrive. His uncle had told him about fighting in the trenches during the last war. The fighting that Harper himself had experienced so far had been much faster paced than that and now it appeared that they already had entered an even faster era, with battles measured in minutes instead of hours or days. If he survived to see it the future was going to be right damned terrifying.

Tucked away in a small room at the base Patrick found himself studying a table covered in maps. Marked on them was every target that Sieglinde had hit so far. It was a wide and varied list. Supply depots, POW camps, columns of tanks and even a couple of airfields. Casualties ranged from a handful to near total with little rhyme or reason. With Lupin looking at him expectantly Patrick leaned back from the table.

"I still don't see a pattern," Patrick said as he finished looking at the maps. This was all meant to help tutor him in the kind of tactical and strategic uses that a Battleship might have. Lupin, having been party to the initial German training program, was now passing his knowledge on to Patrick. "She's all over the place, hitting anything that she can."

"For now, yes, she is going after targets of convenience. But there is a greater plan behind her actions."

"What, just to steal a couple of trucks and some food? Even those guys that they sprung aren't exactly going to win the war for them. It kind of seems petty considering what she's capable of." Patrick replied, still trying to see what Lupin was getting at.

"Every soldier freed is another possible panzermensch, maybe even a Battleship. As for the rest," Lupin circled his finger around the area where Sieglinde had been active. "The supply situation in Germany is desperate enough that what they are taking will help alleviate problems for the forces on the front lines. Especially the trucks, there were never enough of those even at the best of times. There is the morale effect to consider as well. It feels good to be eating a meal that your enemy should have been."

"I guess. I still don't see how it is supposed to win them the war."

"Right now it is more about buying time than anything. After the last attempt at a breakout there aren't enough forces left for a proper assault. Once everything is in order again." Lupin placed his finger on Strasbourg then drew a line across the map to Dunkirk. The maps were vague about the numbers and placement of Allied forces but a push like that would leave a sizable pocket trapped in Belgium. Fortifications were already being put in place around Antwerp to try and hold the vast harbour there as long as possible.

"Could they really pull it off?" Patrick asked while he considered how much effort would be needed for such an attack.

"It is ambitious. With the state that Germany is in anything that isn't an ambitious plan wouldn't even be considered. Drive to the Channel, destroying every railway and road leading south out of Belgium. Trap as many American and British soldiers as possible and then use them as leverage to force a ceasefire. Temporarily of course, until the time comes to press for a total victory."

"This might seem like a stupid question but what is to stop them from just going straight across the Channel to London? It isn't that much farther and would take Britain out of the war for sure."

"I can only speculate on what the High Command is thinking right now but I know what Sankt's opinions were. Even with his disgrace and death his writings on the ubermensch are all that the rest of the Wehrmacht has to go off of for now. Defeating Britain itself is not enough. The government could just move to one of the colonies and there would still be America to worry about. Even with all of the Battleships and a much larger force of tankmen your homeland will require a significant amount of naval and airpower to invade, much less to subdue it. Both of which Germany currently lacks. Besides," Lupin let out an uncomfortable sigh. "There is a much more pressing matter for Germany."

"Well don't keep me in suspense."

"The reason we got into this war in the first place. Lebensraum, living space. Now more than ever Hitler has the capability to realize his dream of an empty east for Germany to expand into. Annihilating the Soviets fulfills that dream and has the added benefit that the Battleships can walk to Moscow if they have to. For now he thinks he has all the time in the world. So why not go after the target he has coveted for years? Revenge can always be dealt out to the Westerners later." Lupin laid his hands down on the table, lowering his eyes as if he were looking over the maps.

"That why you decide to jump ship?" Realizing that the question might be a bit of a sore spot Patrick muddled on. "Not to pry or nothing but I take it that you weren't too happy about the situation. I know I wouldn't be."

Lupin raised his head and looked Patrick in the eyes.

"It was a bit more complicated than that. When you look at the war like this, maps and charts and tables, you can almost fool yourself into thinking that it is clean somehow. I know I did. It was all just numbers on a sheet of paper. I never shot a rifle outside of training and the closest I ever got to the front was when I crossed it to defect. But I still heard things. Men would come back from duty in the Soviet Union and after they had a few drinks they would start to talk. In part I think they wanted to show us logistics fellows just what it meant to really be a soldier.

I have heard a man talk about, with pride mind you, setting fire to a Russian farmhouses with the owners still inside. Gathering up all the women in a village and raping every last one of them. Then the things that were done to the Jews... Some men at least had the decency to talk about their actions with shame but for all too many it was just something that they had done. They would describe it no differently than digging a latrine or getting a truck out of the mud. That was what finally made me realize just what my country had become and that I had to do something. Of course by the time I did anything it was too little, too late."

Patrick found himself at a loss for words more often than not lately. For someone who had always been a quick wit is was not a pleasant experience. But listening to Lupin recall the horrors he had heard his fellow soldiers boast about filled Patrick with an honest to God sense of revulsion. It was something that he had never even considered having to go through.

"Listen to me Lupin. I've been around the block a few times and I know how to tell a good egg from a bad one. You, my friend, are one of the good ones. From what I heard if you hadn't helped that British spy out then we all would have been up the creek without a paddle. Now we can fight back and put a stop to that insanity. You haven't killed nobody. Hell, if you'd have tried to stop them earlier then you'd probably have gotten yourself killed and then were would the rest of us be? So don't beat yourself up about it." Leaning over Patrick slapped Lupin on the shoulder, resting his hand there to help reassure the other man. He might have only really gotten to know the German over the last few days but he had a good feeling about the guy. After all Lupin had shown a heck of a lot of bravery to get this far.

Taking a breath Lupin looked as if he had something else to say before shaking his head ever so slightly. The smile returned to his face as he spoke.

"You're right Patrick, thank you. I should apologize. This is supposed to be for your training, not for me to go over unpleasant memories. Did you have any further questions?"

"Don't sweat it pal. That actually did teach me a few things," Such as just how messed up Germany was on the inside. "I have been wanting to ask about the German Battleships. Since it sounds like you knew them pretty well when you were still over there."

"Well, I was familiar with them all. Markus, Siegfried that is, is the one that I would be least worried about you facing. He is a sadistic young man but not one who is accustomed to fighting people who can hit back. Still dangerous but undisciplined. Werner, Siegmund, is probably the greatest threat. I never got to know him too closely, mostly because he preferred it that way. Still he has been a soldier for years and on the battlefield his experience would make him very dangerous to face."

"What about Sieglinde?" Patrick asked. Given the disposition of the German forces it seemed almost certain that Patrick and the First Enhanced Army would be pitted against Sieglinde when the time came. Even knowing all that she had done Patrick was still a little leery of fighting her. His mother had brought him up to never lay hands on a woman. This situation was different from anything that she would ever have envisioned but it still remained in the back of Patrick's mind.

"Klaudia worries me, though not for the reasons that you might think. I was the closest to her out of all of them but I would not go so far as to say that she was necessarily a good person. If anything she was self-absorbed and indifferent to anything that did not effect her directly. But the war took her husband from her and that has left her with more rage than the other two combined," Lupin leaned in to emphasize his next points. "More than that she was the first Battleship to be activated. She has had an extra month of maturation and while most of an enhanced individual's strength seems to develop by the end of the activation period their endurance and durability still needs that extra time. In a straight up fight if she gets a good hold on you or if it drags on I fear that the outcome will be your death. Even if she does not have the combat experience of Werner once you put yourself in front of her you will become the focal point of all her anger and hatred of the Allies."

Patrick had fought people who had lost it before. Sometimes it made the fight easier as he could keep his wits about him while the other guy swung away with abandon. Other times the rage could help them shrug off blows and give their own punches more force than they would have been able to conjure otherwise. How the halo would play into it all was another question entirely. The key to that was concentration so if he could get Sieglinde hopping mad then maybe she would not be so effective with that particular power. With all the unknowns about the Battleships it was hard to say what the best plan would be.

"Thanks Lupin, you've given me a lot to think about." Patrick knew that the odds were against him right now. Best case scenario he would be walking away from this with some major scars. Worst case, well he was not about to consider that. He had promised his mother and sisters that he would make it back home in one piece and he was not about to make himself a liar.