Divergence
NINE
Tanya's squad capturing the team of foreign observers alive sent shock waves out far beyond the battlefield.
The observers were from the Allied Kingdom, and their government was VERY unhappy that they had been captured. The men had refused to talk, but their giving name, rank and so on also identified where they were from. And the observation post was obvious, as well as the scan data being of Tanya and her forces.
And, of course, they had filmed it all as part of the Valkyries news reels. Which were quickly packaged and sent out across the Empire. And, eventually, internationally.
A meeting room in the Republic capital. One week after the capture.
"What do you mean the Allied Kingdom is pulling their assistance?"
"Their Lord and Commons were not aware that mages had been sent, along with the observers. They are, bluntly, unhappy."
"Their Prime Minister authorized it!"
"The public there does not care. They view this as being pulled into a foreign war that is irrelevant to them."
"Fools! We can not let the Empire grow any stronger!"
"There is another issue."
"Oh, what now?"
"The United States will no longer provide us direct aide. They will continue to channel supplies through our other allies."
The leader cursed loudly. They had hoped to get more volunteer mages, especially. Far too many mages had died in battled, and especially been killed by one, very dangerous mage.
"DAMN that Degurechaff!" he growled.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The United States had avoided any direct consequences due to the newsreel, but questions were being asked about how much support they were sending.
Also, WHY.
On paper, most Americans could see why letting the Empire grow unrestricted was a bad idea. But many were also asking how it was their problem.
AND a faction were pointing out that the Empire had been attacked first. They were acting in self defence. Admittedly very forceful self defence, but...
Another thing that had come up was the overwhelming military superiority of the Empire's armed forces. They had functionally stomped all over the initial invasion, as well as demonstrating the superiority of their mages. As the war ground on, despite the enemy having superior numbers, the Empire kept winning.
The mage losses were especially concerning. Disregarding the rumours about 'The Devil of the Rhine' and 'Rusted Silver' whom may or may not be the same person, the Empire was killing three mages to every one they lost. As mages were already a limited resource, that was hugely worrying.
AND there were the questions around the Computation Orbs. Of course, no one believed the crazy stories about a four core orb, but everyone was willing to admit the orbs used by the Empire were better than their rivals. Several countries, including the United States, were already starting crash programs to improve their orbs.
All in all, it was quite vexing.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"So the diplomats are actually unhappy we captured them?" Tanya blinked.
"It's a bit more complicated than that," Colonel Erich von Rerugen noted,
Rerugen usually was the one stuck relaying direct orders from command to Tanya. Certain stuff was classified, and command didn't trust sending it by radio. And honestly Erich felt he should check in on Tanya regularly... she was a battle maniac, after all.
"Oh?" Tanya asked as Visha refilled both of their coffees. "Thank you," she smiled at Visha warmly.
Visha blushed a bit, "You're welcome. Call if you need anything else."
Once Visha left Erich noted, "Everyone is happy this has created problems for our enemies, but it may complicate things once it's time to negotiate."
"Because we know they were actually involved and may insist on them paying for what they've done," Tanya mused.
"Exactly," Erich agreed.
"How has the new Valkyrie newsreel been doing?" Tanya asked.
"The one where you all had a snowball fight?" Erich chuckled. "It's been very popular. I especially liked when you dumped the snow over Lt. Serebryakov."
"It was an accident! I was aiming for Mary Sue." Tanya admitted.
"Heh," Erich shrugged. Dropping his voice a bit he added, "The operation we discussed is moving forward, but probably not until January."
In a recent meeting with members of the High Command, Tanya had deduced they were planning a surprise raid of the north by sea. If it worked, it would be tactically brilliant, but logistically it was a challenge. Plus keeping it all a secret, of course.
"We'll be ready," Tanya nodded.
Erich got up from the small table as he added, "I'm sorry you're going to be stuck out here over Christmas, but..."
"We do as duty demands," Tanya shrugged.
"Ma'am?" Captain Rushmeister saluted after being called in.
"The new Valkyries film reel is doing well, according to Colonel Rerugen. Congratulations," Tanya noted.
"Oh, thank you sir," Aoi smiled warmly.
"Oh course, now you have to figure out how to top that," Tanya teased.
Aoi chuckled softly. "There was something I wanted to ask," Aoi started.
"Go ahead," Tanya nodded.
"What about Christmas?" Aoi asked.
"Huh?" Tanya blinked.
"I know we can't do a gift exchange, but I think a small party might be manageable," Aoi explained earnestly.
Tanya nodded, "All right, good idea. You can organize it?"
"Can I have Lt Serebryakov and Schnee's help?" Aoi asked.
"Go ahead," Tanya agreed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"A CHRISTMAS PARTY?!"Hilde Schnee beamed.
Aoi chuckled, "Not a huge one, though. But I'm hoping we can get something together."
Visha nodded, "It's too bad trying to arrange for gifts would be... very difficult."
"Agreed," Aoi sighed.
"The quartermaster owes me a favour or two," Hilde noted, "I think we can get some extra wine and beer delivered."
"And try to wrangle some extra food too," Visha added. She then sighed.
"Hmm?" Hilde looked at her.
"I DO wish I could get a gift for the Major too," Visha admitted.
"What would you get her, though?" Aoi wondered aloud.
"Nice wine?" Hilde suggested
"Too young to drink," Aoi noted.
"Clothes?" Hilde offered.
"She's ALWAYS in uniform," Visha sighed.
Aoi muttered, "She really IS hard to shop for."
Visha nodded glumly. She brightened, "Oh! Books!"
Hilde nodded, "Right! She read quite a lot in hospital."
"Are you two done?" Aoi chuckled.
"Right, sorry," Visha chuckled.
"Okay, so we'll shoot for having this on the twenty-fourth, barring stuff coming up," Aoi noted. "Do you think we can get everything here in two weeks?"
"Should be possible," Hilde said cautiously.
"Hopefully," Visha said a bit more warily.
To be continued...
Notes: I'm not having Being X appear, mostly because I just never really liked him just popping up to mock Tanya. You can assume he's off screen, pissed off that things are going off in a weird direction.
I don't think it's canon, but I like to imagine Tanya is a heavy reader, both for work and recreation.
TEN
Mary Sue smiled fondly as she opened the letter from her parents. Letters were off and on, but usually they got through in a few weeks or so. She had also gotten a package of her mother's cookies, which she would eat later.
"Oh god they saw the Valkyrie films?" Mary groaned.
Gertrud Barkhorn, her roommate, looked amused. "Bet they're both proud of you," she said to her cheerfully.
"I guess. It's embarrassing, tho," Mary said.
"At least Aoi doesn't include the screw ups," Gertrud noted.
More than once several of the younger mages had run out of magic while drilling, etc. No one had been hurt, but it certainly looked bad to literally flop over in exhaustion.
"I envy your never running out of juice," Gertrud added.
"Just lucky, I guess," Mary shrugged.
Gertrud was tempted to press her a bit. The amount of magic the girl could use was incredible... still, she might not even know. Changing the subject she asked, "Are you taking a date for the Christmas party?"
"Huh?" Mary blinked. "I thought that was forbidden?"
"Well, no actual sleeping together will happen, obviously," Gertrud noted, "no one wants to risk Degurechaff 's wrath."
"Damn right," Mary agreed.
"But we can still be escorted to the party and dance together, as long as it's purely platonic," Gertrud nodded.
Mary paused as an odd thought hit her and asked her roommate, "I wonder if anyone would ask the Major?"
Gertrud blinked. "Would anyone be brave enough?" she wondered.
"No one is manly enough to ask her out," Mary joked and both chuckled.
"We shouldn't be mean," Gertrud smiled wryly.
Mary tried to imagine someone dancing with Tanya Degurechaff ... weirdly, only Lt Visha Serebryakov came to mind.
"... can I have a cookie?" Gertrud asked after a moment.
Mary clutched the box, "Oh no!"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The evening of the party, they had occupied a large hall in a nearby town (with permission of course) and the food and beer flowed freely.
"What's keeping the enemy from trying an attack while we're having a party?" Warren Grantz had to ask.
"There's a gentleman's agreement between our forces not to on Christmas. It goes back decades," Neumann noted to the younger soldier.
Grantz took a drink, "And if they do attack anyway?"
"Then they're not gentlemen," Neumann shrugged.
"Ha!" Grantz grunted.
"I at least am staying sober," an amused voice noted.
"Eep," Grantz eeped, realizing the boss was listening.
"Ma'am," Neumann saluted.
Major Tanya Degurechaff waved that off, "At ease, no rank at the party."
"So if we're attacked...?" Grantz wondered.
"I'll grab the least drunk among you and/or sober you lot up and go respond," Tanya said with a cool shrug.
"Ah," Grantz blinked,
"Do I want to know how you'd sober us up?" Neumann had to ask.
Tanya just grinned.
"Never mind," Neumann decided.
The Valkyries were, not unexpectedly, getting a lot off attention from the troops. Even little Helma was getting requests to dance.
Aoi, mind you, was watching over her especially.
And, not surprisingly, the busty Minna Wilcke was getting the most asks.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Hilde Schnee felt a certain amount of satisfaction at how well the party was going. The food and snacks were holding up, and the drinks were flowing nicely.
"Thank you again for organizing this," Tanya popped up unexpectedly.
"You're welcome," Hilde agreed cheerfully, a bit buzzed on beer. Curiously she asked, "Not drinking?"
"SOMEONE needs to stay sober," Tanya gently teased. She shrugged, "I don't really like beer either, honestly."
"NO," Hilde mock gasped.
Tanya chuckled as she sipped her soda.
Hilde often felt that Tanya was FAR to mature for her age. Well, obviously, it wasn't surprising considering what she'd been through. But yes, it almost felt like these was a grown man hiding under the guise of a young girl.
"You should relax more, though," Hilde noted.
"I'm as relaxed as I'll ever be," Tanya shrugged eloquently.
"Miss Hilde," one of the younger officers interrupted.
"Yes?" Hilde replied.
"Could I have this dance?" he stammered nervously.
"I really can't," Hilde turned him down, then noted Tanya had slipped off.
'Drat,' Hilde pouted.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Captain Aoi Rushmeister had been keeping a eye on the Valkyries, but was pleasantly surprised by how gentlemanly the boys had been.
'Or they're terrified of Major Degurechaff and what she'll DO to them if they try something,' Aoi mused. Could be either one.
As one of the few really eligible women, Aoi had had several gents ask her to dance, and several were even reasonably good at it. But annoyingly the one she was curious about hadn't asked.
Matheus Weiss was helping a ensign up, having seen the boy had drank too much. He waved down another man, one assumed his roommate, and had him taken to rest.
"Did you get enough footage of the Valkyries?" Erika Hartman got her attention.
"I think so," Aoi agreed, "and can I say you all looked adorable in your Santa hats?"
"Argh, so embarassing," Erika sighed.
"I was surprised that Tanya went along," Aoi added, amused.
They had in fact gotten Tanya and Visha to pose in the hats, and the group shots were adorable.
"Would you mind if I just... stayed close to you, for now?" Erika said after a few moments. "I'm really not that comfortable with parties and such."
Mentally kissing goodbye a chance to go after Weiss, Aoi smiled warmly at the younger woman, "Okay, that's fine."
"Thank you," Erika smiled in relief.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The party was winding down, and Visha frowned as she looked around. She saw the golden hair and cut across the buffet to reach her.
"Major, did you even eat?" Visha demanded.
Tanya looked faintly guilty, "Well, I snacked a bit..."
"Oooooh," Visha pouted. "Stay right there."A few moments later she returned with a loaded plate, "Here. There's not THAT much left..."
"You didn't need to...," Tanya tried to argue.
"We need to eat, using magic burns a lot of calories," Visha reminded her.
"Point," Tanya conceded. They both ate as Tanya mused, "I didn't see you dancing, tonight. I'd thought you'd be asked...?"
"I like dancing," Visha admitted, "might be my Russian blood. But no one seems brave enough to ask me."
"Really?" Tanya said, surprised. She finished her food, "Well, let's fix that."
"Huh?" Visha blinked.
Tanya held out her hand, "Can I have this dance?"
A blush colored Visha's cheeks but she willingly took Tanya's hand. "My pleasure," she said.
Across the hall Mary Sue was watching, feeling a odd pang almost like jealousy...
To be continued...
Notes: The idea of a 'Christmas truce' is an actual historical event. I am obviously only adapting it roughly though.
It is canon that Tanya is by law considered too young to drink. She's old enough to kill, but not to get drunk.
ELEVEN
'Ooooh, my head,' Captain Aoi Rushmeister groaned as she felt herself waking up. Like most of the rest of the unit, she had drank to excess and was now paying for it.
"Uggh...," a voice groaned VERY close to her.
Aoi realized that her cot had TWO people in it. And one was VERY very close to her. She carefully shifted a bit, then saw a very sleepy looking Erika Hartman laying beside her. They also were both still dressed, thankfully...
"Erika?" she murmured quietly.
"Argh," Erika opened her eyes, blinking sleepily.
"Uh... why are you in my cot?" Aoi had to ask.
Erika sort of blinked owlishly at her, very obviously not awake yet.
"Never mind," Aoi decided, "we need coffee."
Norden was snowbound in the end of the year. Mind you, it was a beautiful region, but it had been buried in heavy snow. Repeatedly.
MOST of the Valkyries were awake and groggy, and made their way to the mess hall.
"I want to die," Mary Sue winced visibly.
"I'm fine!" Hilde Schnee beamed, having drank all her life pretty much.
"I hate you," Minna Wilche sighed.
"Morning," a cheerful Lt Weiss smiled at them.
"Why aren't you hung over?" Aoi had to asked, frowning.
"Asprin," Weiss admitted, "that and coffee."
"Come on, let's get some coffee in you," another young man added, waving them inside where they all lined up for coffee.
Visha was there, beaming and ALSO clearly not hung over. She was pouring coffee for Major Degurechaff, who hadn't drank at all last night.
"Morning," Aoi said respectfully to Tanya.
"Morning," Tanya toasted her with her cup. She added pleasantly, "There's eggs, bacon, sausage and toast on."
Aoi went green at the thought of hearty food.
Visha gave her a sympathetic look, "We'll start you on coffee and toast."
"Thank you," Aoi sighed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
A unintended effect of the Valkyrie news reels was an slight erosion of the enemy's will to fight. The various nations opposing the Empire had tried to portray them as a evil, ravenous country taking over anyone around them. And initially, their people bought it.
But the Valkyries created a different narrative. It highlighted attractive, sweet young women whom were valiantly fighting to defend their homeland. Especially Tanya herself and young Miss Helma, who looked innocent and adorable.
(Everyone who KNEW Tanya would laugh their asses off at that, but looks were deceiving. And the enemy, even knowing her record, had a hard time making the public realize she was actually a powerful mage and an ace.)
Of course the governments were doing their best to crack down on the newsreels appearing in their countries, but banning them raised calls of censorship. And attempts to /'edit' the newsreels to fit the 'evil tyrant' narrative hadn't worked much either.
"Oooh, there's Visha! She's SO shapely!"
"Pervert."
"Oh come on. Wait... don't tell me you're into little Hilma."
"I am NOT."
"... Tanya?"
"Well, she IS very striking."
"Point."
"Erika is the only one for me!" a third fan vowed.
"I kind of like Ms Aoi, actually," the one 'milf' fan noted.
Everyone kind of LOOKED at them oddly...
"I feel Mary is the most wholesome of the bunch," another changed the subject.
"I've heard those are the ones who go wildest..."
"Ick," the first sighed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Achoo!" Mary Sue sneezed as they swept in on an enemy patrol.
"Getting a cold?" Gertrud asked. The two were usually paired together on operations, she was one of the few who could keep up with Mary.
"I'm fine," Mary waved it off.
"Someone's talking about you, then," Gertrud teased.
"Eyes front, ladies," Visha chided gently.
"Sorry, ma'am!" the girls chorused. Everyone liked Visha and did not want to disappoint her.
"Ugh, this is awful," Aoi muttered, shivering even in the winter uniform.
"This isn't so bad," Tanya offered as she looked around, "the Rhine Front, THAT was awful. This, not so much."
Aoi made a mental note to interview her about it later...
AS they cautiously parallelled the enemy patrol on the ground Tanya wondered, "Where are their mages? They should have a flying guard unit at least."
"Maybe their out of mages?" Weiss offered as he looked too.
"Eh?" Aoi blinked.
"We know they've had heavier losses than we in mages," Tenya conceded, "it's certainly possible. I don't want to risk relying on it, though."
Once again Mary was impressed with the Major. Even when an opportunity presented itself, she looked out for the safety of her men!
Tanya made a decision, "Weiss, you, Grantz and a few others stay on guard, in case the mages are trying to trap us. The rest of us will hit the patrol."
"Aye, ma'am!" Weiss saluted.
"Let's GO!" Tanya cried as they swept in.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Everything alright, ma'am?" Hilde asked, checking in with Aoi afterwards. While the filmmaker was more used to combat, now, she clearly did not enjoy it.
"It was mostly routine," Aoi admitted. "We got some good footage, too."
"Hmm," Hilde nodded. The training that Major Degurechaff had put the mages through focused on speed and agility, and the Valkyries were strikingly graceful in the air. Tanya herself was even more impressive in the air. She fought like some crazed flying angel, zig zagging across the sky and outmanoeuvring everyone.
"Did you review the orbs we set up during the Christmas party?" Aoi checked. They had set up orbs to film the event, in case they needed another newsreel.
"No, let's take a look," Hilde said. A bit sheepishly she added, "I drank enough, I don't quite remember how things ended."
"Ha, I left before everything wrapped up," Aoi admitted as they used the orbs to project images of what happened.
"Pfft," Hilde snorted as poor Gantz tried to dance, drunk. "I think we could do some slice of life stuff..." she mused.
"Oh!" Aoi made a surprised noise.
"Hmm?" Hilde looked at her.
"This was near the end of the night," Aoi restarted the footage.
Tanya and Visha were talking, then Tanya took Visha's hand.
"Oooh," Hilde breathed out as they gracefully danced together as the party wound down.
"I think Tanya is as good dancing on the ground as in the air," Aoi found herself noting. Excitedly she added, "We MUST include this in one of the newsreels!"
Hilde felt a twinge, "That was a private moment between the two of them, though..."
"At a public event, and the Major gave us permission to film," Aoi pointed out.
"True," Hilde admitted, watching the two gracefully twirl across the small dance floor.
"I don't know why, but I didn't expect Tanya to lead," Aoi added, watching.
"I never doubted she'd do that," Hilde shook her head, vaguely surprised she felt a twinge of envy. SHE wanted to be dancing with Tanya, oddly enough.
"Let's get this edited with a few other bits," Aoi decided.
Of course, neither were aware of the impact this latest newsreel would have...
To be continued...