This is a Youjo Senki Fan Fiction Only.
He just had to mention prayers to Being X, didn't he? At some point, I think Tanya will either get used to the fact some people actually believe in that being or she will simply stop caring about it. "Tanya instead of just sitting there looking like you want to strangle a kitten, why don't you enjoy your last enjoyable meal here. I can tell you I think our food will go back to what we had in the front line camp."
She looked at me and then at her food a few times, "Tell me you are kidding? That will not go back to eat that gruel." Because field rations are meant to be last long, instead of taste good, well, I would not exactly call our rations that. In my previous life, I was taught to survive with much, much worse.
"Well just think about it this way, this could very well be our last meal. So come on, at least pretend to enjoy your food as thanks to the countless hours some people took to grow and prepare it for you."
She still was in a horrible mood it seemed and ate the food like she was told to go on a suicide mission, then again the assignment we are getting could be called a suicide mission since according to the gossip trade that is exactly what people would call it. A lot of people have gone to this lab not one has managed to return alive, a true test by fire it seems.
"You say that because you will not have to deal with the fact that Victoriya's own mother is taking care of you as if you were her future son in law." While I will not deny that Victoriya is a fairly attractive young woman, who has gathered the attention of quite a few men some even slightly older than she is, right now I am more worried about where we are going.
"So that is the reason why you are eating this meal like it is your meal before your execution. Don't worry Karl, we made it this far, and I will not let Being X get the best of me. I know you are too stubborn to be any different. Do you really think this is the best food we will ever eat?"
I looked at her and simply told her to remember the food at the orphanage, remember the food at the camp on the Rhine Theater, and sure enough she remembered and did not say a single word against the food she was eating. Two hours later we boarded the train, why two hours? Because we both had a second plate of food.
Now on the train to the most infamous lab in the Empire, I am beginning to wonder why has that pervert been quiet for a while now, I mean not that I want to hear the constant complains of Being X but usually I hear him even when I don't want to. Something is happening here, something that is so big that it is keeping that bastard's attention.
I know the Deputy Director sent my designs of how I would improve the operational orb to that lab, but this engineer, this particular scientist is well known to be quite the Prima Donna, the funny thing is he is an atheist, so naturally he wouldn't say he is the gift Being X gave to the world.
As we finally reached our destination, we went to our assigned room, there is a shock, the rooms were made from an old horse stable, I wouldn't be surprised that the bathroom is a bucket, and the bed is hay. As we both walked into the room it turns out I was wrong, completely wrong, the room was furnished but the only thing they forgot is that two people are going to live in this room, and there is only one bed.
"Well it looks like I will be sleeping on the floor, great, hand me that pillow and will you Tanya?" I was ready to put down a towel on the floor when she grabbed me and pushed me to the bed, "Don't even think it, you have seen me bare buck naked so many times, you probably know where I have my birthmark."
"So shut up, grab this pillow, and go to sleep, we are going to start our work as lab rats tomorrow, and you need to be rested or else you will make both of us too tired and you will end up causing my death, you wouldn't want that now would you?"
Damn it, she is right, I wouldn't want to cause that, but did she have to say it like I am some sort of pervert? I tried to get to sleep, and I mean I really tried, it never is easy with Tanya being stubborn and always sleeping wearing nothing at all, I know she is supposed to be like a sister to me, but damn it, I am a guy.
I turned away and tried my best to fall asleep, it seems I finally managed it, I was dreaming about a place high on a mountain, who builds a city upon a mountain like this? It almost feel like something from ancient Greece, well at the very least I am not wearing a toga, I saw several people that waved at me as the walked by.
Well at least the city is friendly enough, why am I dreaming of this place? Why does this place seem familiar for some odd reason, and just when I was going to ask someone I woke up because someone was pulling on me. I woke up thinking that Tanya was trying to wake me up because our room was on fire.
Nope, there was no fire at all, she was pulling off my shorts and for some odd reason the second I saw her she kissed my lips in such a passionate way I think she actually explored every inch of the inside of my mouth with her tongue. She was still trying to get my shorts off and when she finally did she looked at it.
One look and she was giving me a blowjob that I haven't even seen in porn, and she really was going at it with total abandonment, and finally when it was standing like a flag pole, she began to ride me cowgirl style for I don't know how long, she grabbed my hand and put it on her tits, and kept asking for more.
Well, this is one dream I will not soon forget, cause this is a dream right? Well since it is a dream I decided to take charge and flip her so she was with her back on the bed and I began to screw the living daylights out of her, went through six different positions and she would just keep asking for more.
In the dream, I finally fell asleep, which means I would be waking up, right? Well, I finally got off the bed, and realized two important things, first Tanya was holding me closer, second the smell of the room, and she was still asleep with the look of a woman that did what I thought was a dream.
"Now I know for certain why those nuns were always looking at you with that perverted look on their faces, Karl I don't care if they think this will cause us both to be damned to hell, but I never, and I mean never had sex so satisfying like that in my entire life, both of them. So you better listen and better listen good, you want to marry some other girl, that is fine, but I am always going to be your main wife no matter how many women you add to your harem."
Harem? When the bloody hell did I say I would have a harem? "Since when did I say I wanted one in the first place?" She looked at me with that sly smile of hers and rested her head on my chest. "Trust me, Karl, after experiencing that gift your have between your legs, they are not going to give you a choice in the matter. As for harems they are not that uncommon in the Empire, they are considered proof of a man's masculinity, many high ranking officers, in fact, have one."
"Could we please take a shower and get some breakfast, before we have to report to our post? Or you do want to be late for work?" She said as long as I took the shower with her she wouldn't mind. So you guessed it, we ended up going at it in the shower of our own room, if she doesn't control herself she might end up getting pregnant, and this is something we shouldn't do when the equivalent of World War I was about to start.
As they reported for duty, something began to make sense to me, why was Tanya always angry when some other woman would flirt with me, why she was always concerned about my well being, it seems my childhood friend and girl that I grew up with was having the same feelings I did, and something made her react like she did last night.
It must have been something important, something she could not ignore because as far as I know, we were doing our best to keep our hormones in check, but something happened last night that made both of us through caution in the wind, and just live as if our lives were about to end. I don't regret it for a second, and I know she doesn't either.
We were given a tour of the facility and the testing protocols for the experimental gear we are going to be testing, it seems the operational orb is not the only piece of equipment we will be testing, it seems my proposal of a new flight unit was heard and some of my ideas had been considered, but I sincerely doubt they will give me or anyone any credit in inventing or improving any of it.
The Chief Engineer is in a sense the very model of a Prima Donna, he could be more of a Diva if somehow he turned into a woman, his ego, his vanity, his over-bloated image of himself, but I digress, he is currently my superior and I should not speak of him like this.
"Karl Strumm and Tanya Degurechaff, I have heard good things about you both, but that will not matter here, in this lab my word is law, and progress in advancing the military might of the Empire our only goal. You have the privilege of testing my own invention, the single most advanced operational orb in existence, and the flight gear that will ensure Imperial dominance of the air."
"You both should thank God for blessing you both of such opportunities, now you have just arrived here late last night, so I don't imagine you are mentally ready, not that I expect much from you, so I shall give you today to set your affairs in order, get accustomed to the lab for you shall live here, as we all do, do not expect any special treatment."
"Why does your papers say you are thirteen instead of the obvious age of eighteen is none of my concern, you shall be treated as adults, as you two clearly are, and so you will not be given any special treatment or consideration, you shall do your duty, follow my command, or die as the failures I expect you to be, then again who can compare to a genius-level intellectual like myself."
"You are both dismissed, I will expect you ready to begin testing early tomorrow at 0600, you better be punctual if you desire to have any food for the day. That is all, I have no more time to waste on you."
We did the only thing we could, we saluted and went out of the office, we both decided that we need to have some breakfast, it seems my idea of coming on an empty stomach was actually a good idea.
As we sat down on the mess hall table we realized we were alone so we could talk without holding back, "That moron has some ego, I mean even I know you sent many proposals to High Command to improve our basic equipment, but I think that man is so much in love with himself he kisses his own reflection."
I looked at her and Tanya was clearly pissed, who am I to talk? I am also furious, "His mental defects matter not unless they get in the way of our goals, Tanya, I been thinking a while now, I had very little knowledge of the workings or design of the operational orbs, and the flight unit, I think I was influenced by someone we both know when I drew those proposals."
She looked at me, "Yes, that would make sense, I do remember seeing your work quite feverishly when you were writing and drawing your proposed diagrams, it made me and Victoriya very concerned, so you suspect that Being X was influencing you, that is something he could do."
"What I want to know Karl is why do you write in your diary that we are thirteen when we are actually eighteen? Why do you reduce our age in every document you write and even in your own diary?" I took a sip of my coffee and looked at her. I know she will consider this paranoid but I am beyond the point of being able to hide it from her, given what our relationship now is.
"I write that we are thirteen because that is intentional misinformation, in case enemy nations wish to eliminate us and gain information about us through spies, they could read the documents and even my own diary, if they do, they will look for a pair of thirteen-year-old children, and so they will never find us."
"The Empire does not publish photographs in their newspaper, both as a security measure and as a cost efficiency measure, so nobody outside the military knows our faces and our names, they will look for a thirteen-year-old Karl and Tanya but they do not exist."
She began to nod her head as she took a sip of her juice, "I see, you are thinking that far in information control, I think our superiors would actually consider it part of your duty, since even I noticed many of our victories have been changed in the way they are reported in our national newspapers. It seems you are right, the information control of the empire is not only systemic but so efficient it is practically a well-oiled machine."
I took another sip of my coffee and a bite of my food, I need to in case this next question goes badly, "Tanya, mind if I ask you why did we do what we did last night? I don't regret it, but as far as I was thinking we were both trying hard to resist any desires or urges, so why so suddenly?"
Tanya blushed and she looked at her fork, "Because even I know the history of this lab, it is said that the Empire sends troops that they want to get rid of this lab because the death toll is very high. You are probably wondering two things, what is wrong with me since I told you I was once in our previous life a salaryman, and what is wrong with you since you also desire me?"
"The answers are quite simple, Karl, I have been in love with you before we even flew our first mission, and while yes I was a salaryman, I was also very much bisexual, as I was reborn a girl, that remained the same cause it is my very nature, and you only have known me as a woman, so it was natural for us to fall in love since we know each other better than anyone."
"We know our strengths, our weaknesses, and our flaws, we know each other, and since we are here and we could both die any second, I felt that if I could die any minute, I should live life as if every second was my last, so I decided to make the first move, I can't tell you how happy I was when you reciprocated my desire. Unlike most other girls I am fairly aware of my menstrual cycle and I know last night was, in fact, a safe day, so relax you didn't make a mother out of me, even if at some point in our future you do, and I will be very happy when it happens, just not during wartime."
I guess it is about time we spend some time trying to prepare for the hellish experiments that await for us at the crack of dawn, the only thing I can actually think of was looking at the result reports of all the previous experimental tests, even a beginner scientist know that they have to keep track of the experiment to be able to analyze what the hell went wrong.
Tanya had a much more direct approach in mind, use her most dreaded technique cuteness, I know crazy, and talk to the people that actually saw the previous experiments, all using the deadly technique mistakenly called the puppy eyes technique. I never met a single man that didn't fall victim to that technique.
We both went as we each planned, I went to the documents and she went to talk with people. I still think my approach is better fewer excuses, cold, hard data, no misunderstanding here if the data was collected correctly.
Three hours later I wanted to send Schugel back to elementary school, I am not kidding the idiot has terrible penmanship, to call what he wrote chicken scratches would be a compliment, at most I found that he blames every failure on human error, every single one, human error it was either he has not enough power, he was too dumb to use his power, or he failed to properly manifest a spell.
Over one hundred experimental tries and all of them he recorded as a human failure, well in a sense he is right except that the failure was the one writing this. The extremely poor written reports did tell me what basically was the test, he straps the new operational orb on someone, tells them to levitate to a safe enough distance, safe for him, and cast a spell as many times as possible.
The poor person does, and he is told to continue, the experiment ends by insulting the guy who just blew up and calling it human error and writing something that he thinks the person did incorrectly or an excuse for why the test failed.
I went back to our assigned room and slumped on the bed, I was angry, frustrated, and no means to work off this stress. Tanya came soon after, "From the way you are, it tells me it was basically blaming the victim and not the killer, well relax, I didn't have as much success as I wished, the idiots would not tell me a thing, they are terrified if they talk they will be the next to test the Beast."
"Yes, that is the only thing I got from them, they all call the experimental operational orb the Beast because they say the thing takes the people that try to operate it, chew them up and spits nothing out when it gets done with a person. So tell me, Karl, are you feeling as angry, frustrated and stressed as I am?"
I could not believe she could read me that well, "Oh fuck me." She smiled and went to hold me, "I intend to, but not tonight lover boy, tomorrow we got a lot of work to do and you are going to need that energy and negative emotions, instead I will hold you while you sleep. Don't worry Karl, I would fight Heaven itself to keep you with me."
As we fell asleep, I continued to have dreams of this city up on that mountain why does this happen to me? I wonder if Tanya is also dreaming of all these men and women dressed in robes and togas, living their lives up there and having conversations like they are just normal people.
I dreamed of two people arguing one was a woman yelling at her husband how she was sick and tired of him cheating on her, and he just telling her that he is bored. Talk about mister husband of the year, I guess this is why Tanya told me I could have a harem. This gave her control of who will sleep with me, and would also keep me from getting bored and end up cheating.
The one thing that did make me feel a bit guilty is that those women in that city were stacked, and I mean great figures, beautiful faces, hair as smooth as silk, and did they ever put those centerfold models I once had in that old calendar to shame. They don't have plastic surgery right? Cause there is no way they can have bodies like that naturally.
I tried to peek at the figure of the very angry wife and out of nowhere, she slapped me hard enough that everything went black, but not without thinking I sort of deserved that. The only thing I found is that she doesn't wear a bra under that robe.
As I woke up the next morning I saw Tanya trying very hard to get me to wake up, we both took a normal bath, meaning no morning aerobics while we took the shower, a light breakfast, toast, juice, and a piece of fruit and we went to the testing site. I told her what I found and for some odd reason, it didn't even bother her. She just said concentrate on making it out alive, and I could make the damn thing work I get a reward.
OK, I went from angry and frustrated to motivated in less time it takes for her to get dressed in the morning, they trapped the orb to my suit in a sort of breastplate, and they put on my back an easy to deploy parachute just in case I got to live long enough to use it.
You really have to give credit to these guys, those words really made me feel relaxed about the entire experiment, of course, I am not serious about this, I could imagine the look on the faces who actually died testing the Beast.
"Alright I want you to use a standard levitation spell as many times as possible, just keep casting the spell till I tell you to stop, don't hold back I want you to make it as powerful as you can." So the levitation spell was the spell they wanted to use for the test, it was not used to levitate them high enough to make sure the lab clears the blast area.
We did as told and sure enough, we went up in the air rather fast, and after seven minutes the thing began to send this crackling noises and the thing began to smoke, like the fuse on a stick of dynamite, "Tanya descend, we have to get to the ground and fast. The thing looks like it is short-circuiting."
I don't care how much he tells us to continue once we were about fifty feet up in the air I told her to take off the orb and throw it as far as we could up in the air, we used the few seconds to cast an augmentation spell and a force absorption spell. She used the augmentation on us and I prepared the landing zone.
We threw the orb as hard as we could and as we fell towards the zone I prepared the orb exploded in a massive fireball. As we looked at where the fireball happened and we waited to be picked up by the test medical personnel, I came to realize this is why they said the Beast does not spit anything out, the fireball cremated the test subject in the other experimental tests.
As we were helped to stand, and the medic checked for broken bones, we went back to towards the lab, "Karl, Tanya I gave you direct instructions to continue casting the levitation spell, you made the test fail for failure to follow instructions." We both stopped walking and Tanya was pissed, and I mean as angry as I ever have seen her get.
"Sorry to disappoint you doctor, but you will have to excuse us if we didn't want to be cremated by your ticking time bomb you strapped to our chest, now don't think of it as a failure, the way it is right now it makes one hell of a grenade. But an operational orb that only functions for seven minutes before it blows up is garbage."
I looked at her and saw I better keep quiet, "How dare you, the multi-core operational orb is a revolutionary invention, it will allow manifest spells faster and with more power than ever before, how dare you call my invention garbage, do you have anything else to say? An apology would be something."
He sure didn't know how to read a person's body language, she turned around and looked at him, the poor idiot did look like he was expecting an apology, "Well you are right I should apologize to the garbage, no battle ends in seven minutes, and that piece of junk will end up killing us faster than the enemy."
She decided to leave before she said what she was really wanted to call his precious experiment, I think Bovine Feces, would be the polite way to say what I think she wanted to call it.
"Karl I honestly do not know how you can stand that woman. You must have the patience of a saint or you are the most masochistic person I ever met. How do you deal with her?" I told him there were things no man could ever understand, women was one of such things.
"How about instead you follow me to the mess hall for some coffee so I can tell you what my observation of the orb was during the experiment, come on Doctor, I noticed quite a few things that you would find interesting, a good cup of coffee will relax you."