Chapter 14

September 14, 1927, Berun, The Empire

Zettour frowned as he studied the young woman in front of him. He then gave a deep sigh before speaking. "Lieutenant Serebryakov, I know you are no longer in my chain of command. Still, I would ask you to reconsider. You are one of the most talented and skilled mages in the Empire. It will be painful to lose your experience, and you will be throwing away years of hard work that you've put into your career. Are you sure you wish to resign?"

"Quite sure, General. The truth is I was conscripted into the army when the Empire was desperate for mages. Becoming an officer is already far more than I ever dreamed of. Now the war is over and the Empire no longer needs me. After all, I hear they're forming a new elite mage battalion armed with dual-core orbs. The 207th, I believe."

There was a moment of silence as Zettour considered her words. They were rather hard to refute. It had cost the lives of several mages, but a few months back the Empire had finally gotten enough mages capable of handling the Type 97 up to an adequate standard, and these mages now formed the new rapid-response aerial mage battalion, the 207th.

The reason it had taken this long was because after the casualties sustained in the first few months of trying to follow Degurechaff's training methods, the people handling the training had finally admitted defeat and scaled back to a more traditional and less risky training format. Success using the new method was much lower - a significant number of mages simply seemed unable to handle dual-core orbs at the necessary level of skill - but at least no one died.

It was perhaps most telling, though, that of the members of the 207th, there were only five from the former 203rd - and all five of those were mages that joined later rather than being part of the founding cadre personally trained by Degurechaff. From the first most experienced batch of dual-core pioneers, not a single one had been invited to take up the Elenium Type 97 once more, instead being consigned to using the Standard Type 24 that was the regular computation orb used by the Empire's aerial mages.

Zettour judged that if any of them had put loyalty to the Empire above loyalty to their commanding officer, this treatment would have guaranteed that was no longer the case.

Truth be told, Lieutenant Serebryakov wouldn't even be the first member of the 203rd to leave the military for greener pastures. She was, however, the most famous. Not only was she known to be the second deadliest fighter of the 203rd after Degurechaff, but she was also well known to be Degurechaff's protégé, handpicked for rapid advancement by the child prodigy long before the concept of the 203rd even existed.

She, more than any other member, served as something of a rallying point for all those people who objected to the surrendering of the Major to the war crimes tribunal as well as the sidelining of the surviving heroes of the 203rd. Zettour himself had been planning to cultivate her as part of the small but growing anti-Kaiser faction in the military. Not that they actually opposed the Kaiser, oh no, that would be treason! This faction simply felt that the Kaiser and the royal court should not be permitted to interfere in military affairs. Perhaps a new constitution further demarcating the rights and responsibilities of the crown, much like they have in Albion. In particular, Serebryakov was an idol to the strong Slavic minority in the Empire, especially since word had gotten around about her family being former Rus aristocrats. Everyone loves a magical princess story.

This was why Zettour was caught by surprise when the lieutenant handed in her resignation. Up to this point, she had been a very active figure among those agitating for an Imperial pardon for Degurechaff. To see her suddenly give all that up - Zettour would confess himself intrigued. This is why he invited her in for this conversation. And while on the surface her reasoning was not incorrect, he was convinced there was more going on, so he decided to poke her a bit. "I know the current political climate is not the best. And you are understandably upset over what happened with Major Degurechaff. Yet, it was the Major who pushed you for officership. Forgive me for speaking plainly, but it seems a bit ungrateful to throw away all the effort she made to promote your career."

Serebryakov's eyes flashed anger for a moment, before her expression was once more professionally blank. "I am sorry you feel that way, General. But it was the Major who taught me about something she called the sunk cost fallacy. Just because you have put effort into something doesn't mean you should hold on to it when it becomes more trouble than it's worth. While I will miss the army, right now I believe my future lies elsewhere."

"Oh?" Zettour carefully studied the young woman but he couldn't see past her blank face. Still, his instinct was telling him there was more to this than met the eye. "And what do you see in your future, Lieutenant?"

"I'm not certain, but I think I'm going to travel. I've got a bit of money saved up, and I've always wanted to see the world."

"Anywhere in particular?"

"I thought I might start with the Unified States. After that, we'll see."

"I see." Zettour briefly pondered this, then shrugged. "Well, if your mind is made up, I can't stop you. Do take care of yourself Lieutenant."

"Thank you sir. And good luck to you too."

As Visha got up to leave, Zettour spoke up again. "You know Lieutenant, given everything, I can see why a person might want to go abroad. Still, that doesn't mean there aren't places within the Empire that one can't find some peace and quiet far from the madding crowd. In particular, I would draw your attention to our new territories in Congo. We took the place over from the French, but Imperial writ runs very lightly in the country. It's almost all in the hands of various corporations. Even though it is now Empire territory, as long as one stays away from the largest cities, one can live completely free from official oversight. As good a place as any for someone with reasons to avoid official scrutiny. And you might even find old friends there. I believe some members of the 203rd have been assigned to that territory."

The lieutenant looked at the general for a moment, then said, "I do believe I understand. I'll certainly keep it in mind. I might even recommend it to... my friends. Thank you General, for everything."

Zettour gave a deep sigh as the door closed behind Serebryakov. It is somewhat absurd just how much one underage Major can affect an Empire. Even in absence.

Later that same evening, Visha sat in small apartment and went through her correspondence. She needed to make sure all her affairs were in order. After finishing her work, she once more turned to the letter that had precipitated her current actions.

It was on the surface nothing more than a bawdy message from one close friend to another describing her latest romantic exploits. Filled with enough innuendo to make Visha blush, Elya went into often excessive detail describing her latest boyfriend. The phrase 'hung like a horse' was one Visha had never actually seen used in real life to describe someone, and she would have been happy for it to stay that way.

Completely absent was any mention of Elya's work for Interpol, apart from a disclaimer that she couldn't say anything for reasons of confidentiality. If that was all, Visha would have consigned the letter to the back of her drawer where it belonged. But, buried within the text, was one seemingly throwaway line,"Funny how life can take a sudden turn, isn't it?"

Life can take a sudden turn.

That was one of the code phrases Elya and Visha had set up between them before Elya left for Londinium. It was one of the most important. It told Visha that the letter contained extremely urgent information regarding Major Degurechaff.

At first, Visha had thought Elya wanted her to come to Londinium to meet her new boyfriend. However, a different line had caught her attention. One where Elya had mentioned, almost in passing, that her boyfriend Barrow had been trained as a mage in New York at the Velvet Iron Protection company by a 'tiny hardass Irish bitch'. Leave out the Irish part, and one could call it a crude but accurate description of the Major.

Visha was then faced with a choice. Head to Londinium to speak to this Barrow and get some solid information. Or take a leap of faith and head directly for New York.

In the end, the choice was obvious. Elya's Interpol colleagues were currently in Londinium. If she was spotted, they might very well wonder what Visha was doing poking around there. If Barrow wasn't already on their radar, then Visha would not be the one to bring him to their attention. No, it was a long shot, but it would be much safer for everyone if she headed directly to New York.

As had become her habit in the years since she last saw her, Visha said a soft prayer directed towards her former superior. Stay safe, Major. I swear I'll find you soon. Just stay safe for a little longer.

September 24, 1927, Londinium, Albion

Elya walked with a spring in her step as she walked into their team's office. The place had been supposed to be a temporary affair, but after almost a year the policemen who had loaned it to them had pretty much started treating it as their permanent post.

No that Elya was complaining. While rather boring at first, the last month had made up for all the preceding tedium. Striding into the room, she noticed Mary Sioux was already there, and send out a greeting, "Morning, Mary dear!"

"Roth." came the neutral reply. "You look happy."

"Oh, I am happy! It's such a beautiful day!" replied Elya cheerfully. Then she dropped her voice to a confidential murmur, "The only real problem is that I'm still rather sore... down there. Joe is always so enthusiastic when he gets the weekend off..."

"Roth, for the last time, I do NOT need to know about your sex life!"

"Really? You always seem so eager to hear about Joe..."

"About any information you might have gotten from him! Not the length of his dick!"

"You know, you could just find out first hand. I offered, and Joe's agreeable..."

"Still mixing business with pleasure, Lieutenant?" The interruption came from Captain Strong as he came in.

"Imperial efficiency at work, Captain!" Elya replied cheerfully.

"Yes well, we need to show some results soon to justify our expense accounts. Speaking of which, you called this meeting Ensign. Let's get started, shall we."

"Yes, let's." With one last glare at Elya, Mary cleared her throat. "Now, the starting point was what little Elya managed to get out of her boyfriend. In particular, she got him to describe the field commander of Velvet Iron Protection as a red-headed female Irish mage in her twenties."

Elya nodded placidly. It was true in a sense. Barrow had said that. He had also said a few other things that Elya had left out of her report. Nothing big, but little clues that would have immediately triggered Sioux' suspicions, and which had prompted Elya herself to drop a little letter on Visha. Unfortunately, it seemed the stubborn girl had managed to turn up a few clues of her own.

Strong was nodding along as well. "Yes. And we established that wherever she was trained, it wasn't in Albion. No redheaded female aerial mages have left the Commonwealth's service in the last several years."

"I thought we agreed she was probably American? God knows they have enough Irish over there," remarked Elya.

"Yes, well, I did a little more digging. I found out Velvet Iron Protection was founded within months of Tina Kurosawa disappearing from Londinium. Allowing for time to cross the Atlantic and then get settled in New York, the timeline fits perfectly."

"Yes. If Tina is actually Tanya von Degurechaff. You still haven't convinced me how she could possibly keep up a disguise spell in the heart of Londinium without being spotted. Our experiment proved it was almost impossible."

Elya hid her smirk at Mary's obvious annoyance. Several weeks back, Elya had challenged Mary to prove someone could move around Londinium for days under a magical disguise without being detected. The resulting attempts had set off so many alarms a Scotland Yard captain had come down in person to tell them to cease and desist.

"Well, unlike you, I am actually taking this seriously. And I finally have proof that we need to seriously investigate Velvet Iron Protection." So saying, Mary pulled out a pair of photographs. The pictures were clearly candid images taken of two women. One was a stocky young woman of average height and dark hair dressed in formal attire. The other, taken at a much greater distance, showed a short, slim young woman with lighter hair in what looked like a combat uniform of some kind. "I give you - Lydia Brown, CEO of Velvet Iron. And Jennifer Ecks, their field commander."

Both Elya and the Captain immediately sat up. "Where did you get these from?" asked Captain Strong. "The FBI said they had nothing on either of them."

"After the FBI came up blank, I hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to get their pictures as well as a first hand description. According to them, the two of them are very careful, that's why it took so long."

"And what does this tell us? I mean, yes, I can see some similarities to our targets," admitted Elya, "But you have to admit, the picture quality is pretty bad."

"True, but the picture is only half of it. The other part is the description. In particular, the detectives are absolutely confident that Jennifer Ecks is only a little over five feet tall. Now you tell me, what are the odds of there being two female mages who are that short and showed up in New York at just the right time!"

"She could still be American..."

"Actually no," spoke up Captain Strong. "Or at least, not trained by us. I was going to mention this earlier, but I've been doing some digging of my own. No redheaded female mages left American service recently either."

Elya knew a losing argument when she saw one. She would have to start backing down or risk raising suspicion. "All right then. It's quite the growth spurt if it is her, but Jennifer Ecks might just be worth looking into. So, does that mean we're heading to New York?"

"Indeed it does. Better get packing, ladies, we should be underway within the week. I'll notify our hosts." So saying, Captain Strong took his leave and headed out.

As Mary gathered up her documents, she glanced at Elya and said snidely, "Better say goodbye to your boytoy, Roth. You'll soon have to be working somewhere other than on your back."

"Oh my dear, I don't just work on my back. Darling Joe is always open to experimentation."

"Arrgh! Have you no shame?"

"Shame is for the weak."

"You are impossible..."

As Elya engaged in another battle of banter with her colleague, she couldn't help but think of her friend. I hope you move fast, Visha. I can't buy you any more time.

September 26, 1927, New York, Unified States

I sat in my New York office and scowled down at the paper. Unusually for me, I wasn't reading the financial or politics sections. No, what I was looking at was the section on entertainment. In particular, I was looking at an article that was reporting that John Hughes' latest release Arenne had broken all box office records in its opening week. In particular, a large portion of the article was devoted to gushing about the 'mysterious Jenny E' and how she had completely stolen the show with her portrayal of the Devil of the Rhine.

In fact, the way this and other articles had gone on, it almost sounded as if the film was focused mostly on my character, with the American hero and his beautiful wife relegated to supporting roles. I snorted in disbelief. It was obvious the papers were playing up the novelty factor of a cruel girl child soldier. Certainly, that damn priest hadn't helped matters. Some famous proselytizer had gone on national radio denouncing my role as a blatant portrayal of a 'fallen woman' and 'original sin', and naturally all that had done was send audiences packing the theaters to see what was so heinous about my act. Never mind my character was not even the focus of the movie!

I got my first inkling of trouble when Lena and Jenny had come back from the film's New York premiere. Hughes had been kind enough to mail me a pair of tickets, but since I had absolutely no interest in seeing the movie all over again, I'd given them to Lena and Jenny. When the two came back, Jenny was gushing about how amazing and scary and 'awesome' I had been and insisted on getting my autograph so she could prove to her classmates that she'd actually met Jenny E.

Lena, on the other hand, had given me a raised eyebrow and asked if starring in a million-dollar epic was my idea of 'laying low'. When I pointed out I wasn't the star (Jenny E had the smallest billing on the posters) and that the difference between the movie role and the real me was so obvious no one could confuse the two, she had been singularly unimpressed.

Now, a little over a week later, it was clear I had miscalculated. I should have remembered a young female action villain was an incredibly novel concept at this time. Novel enough to blow an otherwise average film all out of proportion. I honestly felt a bit bad for my co-stars who had been upstaged by all the critics focusing on the villain. At least I could take solace that a lot of attention was also being paid to the aerial battle scenes. I'd worked hard on those and they were the one thing about the movie I was actually proud of.

Of course, all this attention was not a good thing at all. Everyone wanted to know who Jenny E was. Hughes seemed to be playing up the 'woman of mystery' angle for all it was worth, judging by his interviews, but I knew it was only a matter of time before my identity leaked. If nothing else, the aerial mages I'd worked with all knew my full name and that I was from New York. And that was only the beginning. Sitting at my elbow was a telegram from Hughes. Apparently, he was already thinking of a sequel, Brest, and was eager to see me reprise my role as Tanya von Degurechaff. He opened with an offer of $80,000, and said he was open to negotiation.

I was sweating trying to figure out how my identity as Jennifer Ecks could possibly survive the storm of attention coming my way, when the office intercom rang.

"Ma'am, there's a prospective candidate here to see you. She's proven she's a mage, but wants to meet our field commander before she signs on." came the voice of the secretary.

"Send her in," I replied, doing my best to focus my mind. Business waited for neither man nor woman.

Then the door opened, and coherency fled. I was aware my mouth was hanging open, but I couldn't bring myself to care. Heart thundering in my chest, I watched as Visha walked through the door (in a very pretty but professional dress) and came to attention in front of my desk. She was smiling that shy smile of hers that she would give whenever she did something she knew I would find impressive.

I finally managed to close my mouth, but then I looked her up and down and I had to fight to keep it from falling open all over again. The last two years had been incredibly kind to my adjutant, the somewhat gawky teen being replaced by what was definitely a woman. Even her hair, which had usually hung limp, now had just a hint of waviness and was arranged to perfectly frame her face.

Swallowing once, I tried to bring my face under control as I said, "Good morning. Can I help you miss...?"

She gave me a disappointed little pout. "Major, do we really have to keep pretending?"

After my initial reaction, I had to admit there wasn't much point. Instead I turned on the intercom. "Denvers, hold all my calls and meetings. Nothing other than an emergency gets through until I say otherwise." Cutting off before the secretary could acknowledge, I turned my attention back to Visha.

"Visha, how on earth did..." I paused. Talking at Visha from across a desk just felt wrong somehow. Certainly, I didn't want there to be any chance of being overheard. Gesturing to Visha to sit down in the guest chair, I got up and locked the office door. Then I drew the curtain on the small window, before pulling up another chair so we could sit facing each other. And then I dropped my illusion, so I could talk to her with my real face.

Leaning forward so we could speak softly, I said, "Congratulations Visha, you've managed to surprise me. Now spill. How did you do it?"

She gave me an uncharacteristically coy smile as she replied, "Well Major, let's just say I have friends in Interpol and leave it at that."

I knew about Interpol of course. I was honestly flattered that they'd feel the need to build an entire international police force just to chase me down. Now though, my stomach clenched in dread as I considered the implications of Visha's words. "Interpol knows where I am?"

"Not for certain, I think. But they're definitely investigating Velvet Iron. Last I heard the team was in Londinium, but by now they could already be here. Of course," she paused, and gave me a look so disappointed I immediately felt a spike of guilt, "Any doubts on their part will disappear the minute they see that picture."

I felt myself go pale. Safe in the knowledge that they were all back in the Empire, I'd never dreamed any of my subordinates would ever see my amateur thespian attempts. "You... you saw that?"

"I had time to take in a movie as I was waiting for you to come back from Jersey. Seriously Major, what possessed you to star in a movie about yourself with your real face on?"

I scowled. "Why does everyone keep saying that? The movie is not about me, and I'm not the star, just the villain! And besides, everyone just thought it was an illusion."

Visha had looked like she wanted to interrupt, but then she focused on my last statement. "So you told everyone you were going to put on an illusion of the Argent, and then you just dropped the illusion and went from there?"

I scoffed. "Of course not. I cast an illusion of my real self, and this time I put extra power in the illusion so it would be detectable. Otherwise the other mages would have wondered why they couldn't detect anything - "

"Other mages?! Other? Oh my god, I thought those battle scenes looked too realistic, you were seriously parading around in your real face around other aerial mages? Please tell me they were civilian contractors?"

"Ah, no, they were on loan from the US Army..."

"Major..." I felt my stomach churn as Visha stared at me with big teary eyes. "Why are you being so reckless? Are you really so frustrated?"

Visha's words brought me up short. Looking back, I couldn't help but admit she had a point. At first I had been so cautious. But as I earned more, as my business prospered, and as no one ever challenged my assumed identity, I realized I had grown complacent. Now if it hadn't been for Visha's warning, I might have been caught completely off guard by Interpol.

Reaching forward, I took Visha's hands in my own. Before anything else, I needed to calm her down. A panicking adjutant was no good to me, and it was obvious I needed the help. Judging by the pleased blush that crossed her face, it seemed my confident demeanor was once more doing its job in assuaging doubts.

"You're right Visha. I've been growing careless. Without you there to keep me centered I've been growing complacent. I honestly don't know what I'd do without you."

Her blush was only intensifying. Same old Visha, still unable to take a compliment. Hiding my own smile, I continued, "Thank you, Visha, for everything. Now, I'll be needing your help from here on. As a wanted woman, I've gotten way too comfortable in one place. I think it's high time I started moving again."

Visha immediately straightened up in her seat. "Of course, Major! What are your orders?"

Getting up, I went to the office safe that stored sensitive documents, and pulled out a particular folder. "This is a request from one of our clients that came in a couple of weeks ago. I was wondering if I would even accept, but I do believe this is perfect for our current needs." Retaking my seat, I continued, "You see, one of my clients is in the import business, bringing in exotic products for domestic consumption. Velvet Iron acts as warehouse security. About a year ago, this client decided to do a bit of upstream vertical integration."

On seeing Visha's blank face, I translated the business jargon, "He decided to buy up his suppliers so he could purchase the product directly from the source instead of relying on middlemen. Now, as you might expect, he faced pushback from local competition. On top of that, the place had its own homegrown Communists to contend with. Still, it was mostly civilized until recently, when attempts to discourage his entry into the market started getting violent. He's put in a request for Velvet Iron to send someone to look into his overseas business and consult on security. I was originally unsure if we could take the job, but now it gives Jennifer Ecks the perfect excuse to leave the country for an indefinite period of time. Along with a few key employees, of course."

"Understood Major. How soon are we leaving, and where are we going?"

"As soon as humanly possible, Lieutenant. And pack for warm weather. We're going to Colombia."