The Saga of Tanya the Evil: Divergance
SIX
Tanya von Degurechaff scowled at the PR types, one of whom was holding up another frilly dress for her. "Just the one...," the lady started.
"No," Tanya said firmly, "this is military, not just a film about my winning the Silver Wing Assault medal."
"Aww," the older woman visibly pouted.
"Major!" an enthusiastic voice called.
Tanya looked over, seeing a slightly younger, brown haired girl rushing up.
Mary Sue stopped, then threw a perfect salute. "Ma'am," she said.
"At ease, ensign," Tanya said formally. She then smiled as she added, "Congratulations on finishing basic training."
"It was soooo hard," Mary groaned and Tanya chuckled.
"The front is worse," Tanya noted wryly.
Viktoriya Serebryakov nodded to Mary, "Nice to see you again."
Mary Sue saluted again, "Lieutenant."
Tanya looked around, frowning slightly. "I thought there were other female officers?" she wondered aloud.
Mary Sue shrugged, "Sorry, I don't know."
"I guess I need to go talk with the PR person," Tanya sighed.
"I'm sorry, the other ensigns should arrive shortly," Captain Rushmeister apologized.
"May I ask what's the plan?" Tanya asked her a bit grimly, "I did NOT enjoy my last propaganda film."
Captain Rushmeister looked apologetic, "It was very popular..."
Tanya just glowered.
Quickly Captain Rushmeister added, "I assure you, that's not the plan this time." A transport truck arrived and she smiled, "There they are."
A group of women all older than Tanya, and dressed in spotless uniforms climbed out of the truck, then one got them lined up at attention.
"You're in charge, Captain," Tanya reminded her.
"Ah," Captain Rushmeister nodded, then addressed the girls, "At ease."
All five ladies were looking adoringly at Tanya, who wasn't sure how she felt about that.
Captain Rushmeister nodded, "Introduce yourselves, ladies."
"Minna Wilcke," the oldest girl introduced herself, her red hair flowing over her shoulders.
"Erica Hartmann," the slim blond smiled casually.
"Gertrud Barkhorn," the brown haired, somewhat more intense woman replied.
"Waltrud Krupinski," a tall, boyish blond smiled.
"Helma Lennartz," the youngest replied, the little blond reminding Tanya of herself, a bit.
"Ensigns," she nodded, "I am Major Tanya von Degurechaff, this is Lt Viktoriya Serebryakov and Ensign Mary Sue. We'll be working together, it seems."
"It's a honor, ma'am," Minna said respectfully.
"So, what's the plan?" Erica addressed Captain Rushmeister.
"First we'll do some promotional photos...," Captain Rushmeister mused.
Later that afternoon... "Well, that was awful," Tanya sighed as the group was having a coffee in a cafe not far from the base.
"The front was worse," Visha offered wryly.
"Thank you for refusing for all of us to do the swimsuits," Minna said with a groan.
"Most of us are too young to do that," Tanya frowned. Several young ladies looked enviously at Minna and Visha, then sighed.
"Major Von Degurechaff," Gertrud Barkhorn met her eyes, "could you... use your influence for us? I signed up to fight."
"Yes!" all four other girls agreed.
"Hmm!" Mary Sue was eating, but nodded firmly.
Tanya mused that, under other circumstances, she'd rather have been well behind the lines in PR. Though admittedly the horrible dresses, not to mention the swimsuit they tried to get her into, would have made her pause.
"Major?" Visha looked at her worriedly.
"Sorry, I was distracted," Tanya admitted.
Tanya studied the five women thoughtfully. They had done flight maneuvers, combat, and other mage skills. And weapon drills, all of which were filmed for the propoganda film. All of them, at least, met the standards of the Imperial Army.
"I suppose I could argue you would be even more effective as idols if you were actually fighting," Tanya mused.
"Yes!" Waltrud said.
"I can't promise anything," Tanya cautioned, "I'm not that influential."
(In that, Tanya was underestimating herself. Winning the Silver Wing Assault medal in her first real battle. On the Rhine front, managing multiple victories and commendations. Her essays and position papers at the War Coledge... the Generals were clearly interested in her.)
"It'll happen," Minna said firmly.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Dacia is moving on us, now?" Tanya had to ask.
"They are apparently moving in support of the Francois Republic," the officer relaying the orders reported.
"And we're being mobilized because no other forces are fast enough to respond," Tanya nodded. "Understood."
Tanya left her tent as she called, "Lt Weiss!"
"Ma'am!" Weiss saluted, standing at attention.
"Assemble the Batallion, we need to move out," Tanya ordered.
"Yes ma'am," Weiss saluted.
Tanya faced the troops and gave a rousing speech, then the group took flight to intercept the marching Dacian military. They pushed flight speeds a little, to make sure they'd get there in time to limit damage done by the invaders.
"Does anyone see mage scouts?" Visha asked. All modern militaries used mages as flying scouts, indeed, that had been Tanya's first job in the military.
"There... doesn't appear to be any," one soldier reported.
Tanya blinked, "What."
As they neared the Dacian forces, they, indeed, saw no mages scouting. Even more surprising they appeared to have no mages at all.
"It's got to be a trap," Weiss said seriously.
It wasn't a trap. They bombed the invaders from out of their range, used spell laden bullets and pretty much demolished the entire army. Then they raided the Dacian field headquarters.
Cheerfully Tanya addressed the stunned soldiers, "Welcome to the Empire, please present your passports?"
"Get them!" the leader yelled hysterically. Mage shields blocked the bullet fire, then they stopped, stunned.
"Should we capture them?" Weiss asked.
"What's the point?" Tanya shrugged. They returned fire, and that was that.
"Get everyone re-organized, including any injuries," Visha ordered.
"If anyone was hurt by these idiots they should die of shame," Tanya noted wryly. She was frowning to herself thoughtfully.
"We're ready to move out," Weiss reported.
Tanya nodded then made an executive decision, "We're going to execute a night raid into Dacia itself! Move out!" she ordered.
"I'm honestly surprised someone hasn't moved against Dacia sooner, with their lack of mage defences," Visha murmured.
"I don't think anyone realized they were this un-defended," Tanya answered wryly.
Flying in the twilight they reached the capitol, where they found munitions factories. They issued a warning as required by international law, then bombarded the buildings with explosive spells to reduce it to rubble.
"I'd say that's a good days work," Tanya decided.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"They did WHAT?" Erich von Rerugen blinked at the messenger. He couldn't have heard right.
"Von Degurechaff defeated the invading Dacian forces, destroyed their leadership, then launched a raid into Dacia itself to destroy multiple military targets," the messenger repeated.
"How...?" Erich blinked.
"She included a full report."
Erich snatched it from his hands and began reading...
To be continued...
Notes: YES, I decided to use names from Strike Witches, but that'll probably be it. They'll be different characters, barring stuff coming up.
SEVEN
It was a few weeks after the Dacia raids. They were running it as a double feature before the movies, in theatres across the capital
First was the film of Tanya after she won the Silver Wing Assault Medal.
Then...
"Our Country is at War!"
Images of the battlefields. The shots were chosen to show the harshness of war, but not too much blood. They wanted to show this to everyone.
"Our brave boys and girls are fighting off the invading hordes!"
Pictures of soldiers exchanging fire. Dirty, of course, but not too dirty. They had been picked out for looks too.
"Things look bleak on the front!"
Scene of a medical tent, with men bandaged, laying on cots or standing awkwardly.
"But look! Up in the sky!"
A cloudy day, but then the clouds split, shining light breaking through. And from that light flies out a wing of women mages!
"The flowers of the Empire! The ladies aerial mage corps! The VALKYRIES!"
Tanya, Visha and Mary Sue were in the lead, and were the main 'attackers' in a mock battle. They threw spells that mere mostly colored light, fought 'the enemy' and with their allies achieved 'victory' to the cheers of the soldiers.
"And these caring girls provide care to the wounded and boost morale!"
The girls, NOT including Tanya and Mary, were shown at the medical tent talking to soldiers. One or two did vaguely 'medical stuff' in the background.
"Will you let the flowers of the Empire fight alone? Are you brave enough to stand beside them?"
A final shot of all the women, standing in a heroic pose. Tanya, interestingly, is positioned to look a bit taller and is wearing elevator boots.
"Volunteer today!"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Oh that was awful...," Tanya groaned, the three of them having gone to see a showing with the new propaganda film.
"I thought you looked very dashing," Visha noted.
"That was so cool!" Mary gushed.
Tanya wasn't really criticizing the film, just how ham handed the messaging was. No sign of subtlety anywhere! Then again, this was an era where being indirect wouldn't work. And thankfully they hadn't gone too much into fanservice.
"Do you want to watch the film, too?" Visha asked.
"Well, we did pay to get in," Mary pointed out.
"Okay, sure," Tanya conceded.
It ended up being an inspirational film which reminded Tanya of 'Maidens in Uniform.' Shr had seen it once, in her previous life. It wasn't an awful way to spend an hour or so, anyway.
"That poor headmistress," Mary sniffled as they left.
Visha passed her a handkerchief. "What did you think, Major?" she asked Tanya.
Tanya wasn't sure what they expected of her... "It's sad that she couldn't live freely the way she wanted," she replied.
"Hmm!" Mary nodded, "Exactly."
'Huh, Mary picked this one, didn't she?' Tanya found herself thinking. 'I wonder if that means something...?'
"While we're in town, you should visit your parents," Visha suggested to Mary.
"You're right," Mary conceded. She saluted Tanya, "Permission to leave, ma'am?"
"Permission granted. Remember we're only off until Monday," Tanya added, returning the salute and watching Mary hurry off.
"That girl needs to relax," Visha noted wryly.
"You DO remember what you were like when you started serving with me?" Tanya pointed out, amused.
Visha blushed, "I wasn't that bad."
Tanya just snorted. "We should get back," she noted, "unless we want to get dinner in town."
Visha looked eager, "Could we? It's GOT to be better than the mess hall."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Well, Major, it has been decided to place the PR unit, Valkyries, under your overall command," Erich von Rerugen said calmly, the two meeting on Monday.
"Thank you, sir," Tanya replied.
Neither brought up the Dacia raid, but that was a large part of why her request was granted. It was a small prize for her recent victory, after all.
Tanya perused the documents then blinked. "Wait, I have to take Captain Rushmeister too?" she asked, frowning.
"The Valkyries will still be a PR exercise," Erich noted. "She will be responsible for filming their activities in the field."
"Huh," Tanya nodded. "She will have to meet my standard for combat ability," she pointed out. "I won't have her endangering my unit."
"If she can't handle it, we will replace her with someone who can," Erich promised.
"Along with her, I'll also want to run all five ensigns through a short version of how I trained the unit," Tanya mused.
Erich felt sorry for the girls, considering what he'd heard about Tanya's training. On the other hand, it HAD produced an elite unit.
"What?" Tanya asked.
"Just don't seriously hurt them," Erich reminded her. "We need them for public events, too."
Tanya made a face, but nodded.
"After you success with Dacia, command has decided to send you up to Norden, where we're facing Entente forces," Erich told her.
"So soon after Dacia?" Tanya asked, "My troops need time to rest and recover."
"The Dacia campaign was barely a live fire exercise," Erich noted, "I'm sure you're aching to face real battle."
'Oh no I'm not!' Tanya thought, but kept it off her face. "Of course, sir," Tanya agreed. "Permission to round up the Valkyries for training?"
"Granted," Erich nodded.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Captain Aoi Rushmeister thought that she was going to die as she rushed up a hill carrying her full combat gear and a loaded pack. Even more annoying, the six ensigns all seemed full of vigour and fresh as daisies.
Minna Wilke, the oldest girl, dropped back a bit to join her. "Ma'am, you have your orb," the redhead whispered, "use body enhancing magic."
Aoi felt profoundly stupid for not thinking of that. That was probably why the other mages were fine! Admittedly she had been over in PR for years, and hadn't been that strong of a mage to start with. "Thank you, ensign," she sighed, and did so.
The group finished the course, and had a small break.
Mary Sue was nearly bouncing, "That was much harder than basic!"
Helma Lennartz, the youngest of the group, looked around nervously. "I heard she ordered her unit shelled in training," she whispered.
"Major Degurechaff is incredible!" Erika Hartmann said admiringly.
'No, she's insane,' Aoi thought, but didn't say it aloud.
"Everyone okay?" Waltrud Krupinski asked, pointedly not looking at Aoi.
"I'm fine," Aoi said, sighing as the others chimed in.
"Uh oh. She's back," Gertrud Barkhorn warned the others.
Worryingly, Tanya was accompanied by seven of her regular mage officers. "Congratulations! You have shown the minimum acceptable skill for joining our unit," Tanya declared.
All of then tensed, knowing something more was coming.
"As a final drill," Tanya paused with a very evil smile on her face, "you will face one of these soldiers one on one. All you have to do to pass is hit them. Good luck!"
'We are SO doomed,' Aoi sighed. Or at least she personally was...
The other ensigns all managed to tag their opponents, with Mary Sue being the fastest. Of course. The speed the young mage could wring from her orb started her foe, and she zipped up and 'killed' him suddenly.
Aoi found the whole thing profoundly frustrating. After chasing her foe the longest, she pushed her meagre flight abilities to their limits, got close, then blew off her magic in all directions to barely singe her attacker.
Tanya congratulated everyone, then nodded to Aoi, "Can I speak with you privately?"
"Ma'am," Aoi nodded, and followed her to the command tent.
"I was tempted to flunk you for that weak attack," Tanya noted frankly, "but I used something similar when I won my first medal. If more explosive."
Aoi blinked, not realizing that.
"You think I've been unfairly harsh with you?" Tanya asked. "You can speak freely."
"Frankly? Yes ma'am," Aoi admitted.
"You are primarily coming along as a filmmaker, and I will do my best to keep you from danger," Tanya said, "but you will be on a battlefield. And we cannot control the enemy."
Tanya fixed Aoi with a intense gaze, seemingly far older than her years.
"In emergency, my troops may need to rely on you. In worse case, you might even find yourself in command, Captain," Tanya said. "I will not have my troops die because you couldn't hack it."
Aoi paled, but nodded. "Yes ma'am."
To be continued...
EIGHT
Anson Sue and his wife watched the propaganda films. Anson had seen the Tanya one before... he felt sorry for the woman. The 'Flowers of the Empire' film ran next.
"Well, uhm...," Rachel Sue said dubiously.
"Well, at least Mary looks very impressive," Anson said mildly.
"Mary didn't tell us about this when she visited," Rachel frowned.
"Well, we talked about it a little," Anson admitted. He added, "Major Degurechaff at least talked the propaganda folks out of putting them in swimsuits."
"They were WHAT," Rachel scowled.
"There there," Anson patted her arm.
A scowling Rachel continued, "I'm certain it was some pervy man...,"
"Hmm," he nodded as they left the theater. Unlike Tanya and friends, they weren't really interested in seeing a film.
Several young men and women were leaving too. "Major Degurechaff is so cool!" one young lady gushed.
"I want to sign up," a university student lamented, "I need to graduate first though."
"Drop out and sign up," a third encouraged the others.
"I would follow Mary anywhere!" another lady added.
Rachel had overheard all that too. "Well, the film does seem to be working," she noted to Anson a bit dubiously.
"Well, anything that ends the war sooner...," Anson sighed.
Rachel nodded, sighing.
"There's some good news," Anson added, "Dacia has officially surrendered. Thanks, apparently, to Major Degurechaff and the 203rd."
"That is an impressive, if frightening, young woman," Rachel agreed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
They were facing off against Legadonia and volunteer forces in Norden, as November ground on around them.
"This is awful," Tanya muttered, blowing on her cold hands. She and several of the inner circle were in her command tent, going over maps of the enemy's movements.
"I think it's refreshing," Hilde Schnee beamed, the nordic blond clearly not bothered by the frigid temps at all.
Her and Aoi Rushmeister were running filming the Valkyries, as well as the 203rd in action. Aoi had recovered from training hell and seemed very enthusiastic, and Hilde worked as a combination aide/camerawoman for her.
They, thankfully, could use the Computation Orbs themselves for much of the filming. The visual quality wasn't quite as good as film cameras, but for the newsreels it was fine.
"I have to admit I don't fully get the enemy's intentions here," Hilde admitted.
"I suspect they're mostly just buying time and tying up our forces," Tanya admitted.
"Huh?" Hilde blinked.
"We're fighting a two front war with the Entente Alliance and the Francois Republic," Tanya said patiently, "they absolutely do not want us to concentrate our forces and defeat one or the other. So they have to keep us occupied here with seemingly random attacks."
"So couldn't we just leave a skeletal force here?" Hilde wondered.
Visha spoke up, "But if they DO get enough reinforcements and attack, they could defeat whomever we left as guard."
"So we're stuck," Hilde realized.
"Unless we can defeat them outright," Tanya agreed, "and with winter coming, most of our military can't mobilize supplies or troops here."
Hilde nodded as she said, "Unlike us, who are very mobile and can rush in here and reinforce them as needed."
"Exactly," Visha nodded.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Captain Aoi Rushmeister HATED the cold, hated the conditions and hated most of the idiots around them.
(She would be surprised how much Tanya agreed with her. However, Aoi rarely talked to Tanya directly, and anyway she didn't want to know how 'The Devil of The Rhine' thought.)
But Aoi LOVED how the filming was going.
Snow covered hills, mountains, and all that made gorgeous backdrops for the mages. And there had been several skirmishes where she had filmed the Valkyries in action. It would make an incredible propaganda film, later.
"All right, is everyone fine? Not low on magic?" Aoi checked with everyone via radio as they did flight practice not far from field HQ.
"Totally fine!" Mary Sue replied enthusiastically, but Aoi knew to ignore her. The girl's capacity for magic was nearly as abnormal as Tanya's.
Helma was the only one who seemed tired, understandably so. She was nearly as young as Tanya herself.
"We should probably head in," Minna Wilcke noted. She added, "We need to be ready if we're deployed too."
Aoi firmly stomped on her annoyance, knowing she was right. "Okay, we'll..."
"Mages of 203rd assemble!" Weiss' voice cut them off.
"You heard him, move it," Aoi ordered, the group taking to the air and returning to the base.
Tanya gave a rousing speech, explaining that they were deploying to save a critical supply depot. She also reminded them that foreign powers were assisting their enemies, and that they should know the world was watching.
Lieutenant Matheus Johan Weiss then handled the nitty gritty deployment issues. Aoi watched him admiringly, as he was pretty much her type.
Alas, the military had a no fratrenization policy.
Tanya had assembled the full battalion shortly after the Valkyries joined. In simple terms, she spelled out all the details of the rules involved. THEN she made it clear there would be zero tollerance for violations, and that she, herself, would oversee any punishments.
Aoi felt certain the speech had been directed at the men in the unit, but she wasn't raking the chance. Tanya scared the shit out of her.
"I'm SO looking forward to this!" Mary exclaimed excitedly as they soared towards the battlefield.
"Watch each other's backs," Aoi reminded them. "Battlefields are chaotic, make sure your wing mates are all right."
"Ma'am!" Minna Wilcke nodded.
Minna, Erica and Gertrud were the senior mages, so Aoi had paired them with Mary, Waltrud and Helma. Aoi herself would hang back a bit, filming the action. And, if needed, helping out... she had been drilling with the 203rd mages to boost her own skills, but still felt lacking.
"Enemy mages ahead! Detecting bombers at extreme range," they heard over the radio.
"Here we go," Aoi muttered.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Visha kept an eye on the Valkyries as the battle raged, but soon decided it wasn't needed. All four had shown they were capable, with Mary Sue being ridiculously powerful.
'Then there's the Major,' Visha thought as she saw Tanya flying up to attack the bombers. Only her unique Orb gave her the range, and she seemed positively eager to do it.
The mages jinked and fired as they fought the enemy mages, and it was closer than Visha liked. These were strong, capable mages that appeared well rested and ready for battle. Unlike the exhausted, hopeless men they had expected.
'Major Degurechaff is right,' Visha thought as she shot a mage down, "they're getting assistance from other countries.'
The enemy mages fell to weapon fire and attack spells, even as far above the bombers exploded one by one. In a few minutes, Tanya returned to their side.
"Looks like we've saved the depot," Tanya noted, but she looked distracted.
"Ma'am?" Visha asked.
"We're being observed remotely," Tanya noted.
"Ah! And not concealing themselves either," Visha said, feeling a bit sheepish she hadn't noticed sooner.
"I can take them out from here," Tanya swung her rifle into place.
"Couldn't we capture them?" Gertrud offered, having gotten near enough to listen. "We think other powers are getting involved... if this is them, it's proof isn't it?"
Tanya paused, then nodded, "I'm not sure our command would want proof, mind you. But it's worth the attempt."
"Request permission to go!" Minna added, saluting.
Tanya made a snap decision, "Captain Rushmeister! You're filming this. Valkyrie squad, Viktoriya, let's go."
The group of nine took off, tracing the signals back. They blew up the cabin, swooped in, then grabbed the shocked observers...
To be continued...