AN, credits to Gremlin Jack, perfect_shade, Nla Eid and Cabbie for helping me revise this chapter.

1952, February 10th, Berun:

"President Mzhavinidze requested additional reinforcements." Horst Stoph, the new Defense Minister, sighed.

"And while secretly negotiating with the communists for peace? After backtracking on the '10 people would be shot for every Caucasian soldier killed' policy when we had warned him that would just fuel the communist insurgency?" President Paul laughed, then downed a painkiller with coffee before turning to Elya. "He has failed us for the last time. What's the status of finding people within his government that would be supportive of having President Mzhavinidze arrested?"

Elya cleared her throat. "Some of the president's subordinates had already been plotting against him for some time now. Now that they've been contacted by the Germanian agents and been informed of President Mzhavinidze's talks with the communists, they are proceeding rapidly with their planning."

"Do we know if they also have communist sympathies?"

"No, but it seems that the only thing uniting them is their hatred of President Mzhavinidze, and for some, for him to try to seek a negotiated peace with the communists, was deemed completely unacceptable. There are a few distinct factions that have very different ideas of what Caucasia should look like when he is gone. My concern is tha-"

"I get it. We could end up sparking a civil war by removing him." Paul rubbed his forehead in agony. "Before I give the approval for his removal, does anyone have any other recommendations for a course of action to stabilize Caucasia? If Dr. Schugel had a time machine, I would have not backed the damn idiot in the first place, but here we are."

Dertinge looked like he was going to say something, but decided not to.

"Then we shall begin." Paul said. "Firstly, what is going on between the Francois Republic and the Chinese Soviet Republic? I was not expecting the Franks to expel all of the Chinese students, regardless if they had committed any crimes, and also the recently established embassy staff."

"Considering that the CSR is arguing that they are merely 'enthusiastic volunteers' instead of outright denying their direct involvement in Francois Indochina, and that South Bharat's intel had picked up on reports of the Vietnamese rebel mage forces being able to match the Frankish mages, the Franks are likely battling elements of the Sibyrian Army." Elya replied. "Which would make sense as that is the Chinese light infantry army."

Dertinge glanced at his notes before speaking. "Earlier this morning, the Franks sent us a message asking us to have our orb researchers come to their orb laboratory."

Paul raised an eyebrow as Dertinge continued. "The CSR had begun modifying the Type 97 orb for their local production. Compared to the original Type 97, the new orb the Franks captured from a fallen rebel mage had simpler and more crude components, but seems to function almost as well as the original. There was a stamped imprint on it, calling the orb a 'Type 47'."

"Should we have Dr. Schugel and his staff take a look?" Paul asked.

Elya looked halfway between laughing or panicking at the suggestion. "We can send anyone but him! He might have a heart attack if he saw how the communists massacred his child."

Paul gave Elya a questioning look and opened his mouth to speak, but decided to change the subject instead, "What about the rest of the military situation in Francois Indochina?"

"Based on their pace of conscription and training, they might be able to send over the first wave of about 16,000 newly trained personnel within a month or two. This is to add to their approximate current size of 140,000 service members, not including local auxiliaries."

"In total?"

"Within 6 months, approximately 70,000. I am concerned how their expeditionary army will function with so many raw recruits. Any significant disruptions and it will turn into a disorganized mob."

"The recovering Frankish economy is probably helping with that rapid conscription." mused Dertinge. "I'm not sure if that surge is sustainable, but it seems the Franks have lost their patience and want to end at least one of their colonial wars on their own terms."

As the meeting dragged on, Elya looked at her notes on the planned coup against Caucasia's president.

"It's going to be a disaster." She thought to herself as she flipped through the pages detailing the various factions within Caucasia's government and military. "I wonder how Tanya would have handled this?"

Then a thought hit her. Tanya and Visha had been exploring the world and just happened to meet various politicians, military leaders, businessmen, and even the Akinese Emperor himself.

There was something there, Elya was sure of it. She wasn't certain what shape exactly, but knew that she could almost grasp it. More than anything Elya knew who definitely could. She may just need to help her friend see it too.

"It's long overdue for her to lead Germania again."

1952, February 26th, Hamburg:

All of these damn letters and phone calls asking me to meet with this politician, that business leader, or someone in the military. It reminds me of the invitations I got from the arms manufacturers all those years ago. Something meaningless about "touring manufacturing facilities" and "discussing the future of the nation."

Maybe I have upset one too many people with my talk shows and they want me to tone it down? Or to persuade me to paint them in a favorable light?

"Is there something bothering you dear?" Visha walked over.

"The flood of correspondence clogging up my schedule is getting a bit much." I opened up another letter and glanced through it.

"The Presidential elections are coming up this year." Visha mused. "Don't you think that there might be some people who miss you?"

I rolled my eyes. I just want to enjoy my retirement from politics and responsibility, while everyone else seems determined to pull me back in.

"I'm content with running the talk show."

Visha smiled indulgently. "I don't believe you are."

I looked at her in confusion. What did she mean by that!?

She seemed to have noticed my reaction and continued. "Oh Tanya, you've been constantly talking about how you wanted to just relax and retire in peace, but everything you have been doing comes across as someone who isn't content with how the world works. Everywhere you go, change happens." She walked over to me and hugged me from behind, "And I am proud of you for that."

I sat down in silence, trying to think of a rebuttal. Something to convince myself that it's all just a mistake. But she did have a point.

Visha giggled and gave me a kiss, "You have to give me an answer if you want to have fun in bed tonight." She whispered into my ear.

I scowled at her for making this about that, but we both saw that there wasn't any real heat in it and I instead gave a serious thought to her question. Do I really want to take a more active role in running the country once more? Am I ready to deal with the baggage associated with it?

"I…" I sighed, "I'm avoiding being the one responsible for everything."

Visha scooted back from me with a look of confusion on her face. "Really? You are the last person I would expect to avoid responsibility."

I could very much see why. Still, with the state of Germania as it is now? Going back into politics might not be so bad after all. If I continue to try to stay out of it, who knows how President Paul plans on staying in power for another term to continue his blunders. A big enough move might even splash over on me. Besides, it… It might even be good for my personal development. After all, every productive member of society constantly seeks self improvement.

"I was getting burned out in the last few years." I sighed. "I thought, maybe, I could just step away from the wheel. Evidently, that hasn't worked out so well for us," I bit my lip, "or Germania."

Visha hummed, "You know, I don't think I've never asked you this, Tanya, but what drove you to pursue politics in the first place?"

I blinked, remembering my original reasoning for joining the GWP and then being in the government. It was so simple – Secure a cushy job and live a good life without getting constantly escalating responsibilities piled onto me – yet here I am now.

"I didn't expect the GWP to gain popularity so rapidly." I looked Visha in the eye. We've known each other for too long for her to know when I try to deflect something. I sighed. "I thought I could just remain in charge of a minority political party, just so I didn't have to worry about going hungry on the streets, I didn't at all expect to be elected Chancellor."

She blinked at me a few times, looking completely dumbfounded. "What?"

…

Half an hour later Visha was looking blankly into space, her head was tilted slightly to the left as she contemplated the profound truths that had just been revealed to her.

It's not that Tanya's reasoning was completely unreasonable or something she couldn't see her doing. Visha knew her wife-in-all-but-law well enough for that. It was just… that? That was the truth of Tanya von Degurechaff's rise to power? The Silver Chancellor's ascension to worldwide prominence started because she wanted an easy job and a stable source of income?

Unbidden, a giggle escaped her. She quickly put her hands over her mouth, trying to stop any more from coming out. That proved to be impossible. One cannot stop the inevitable.

Soon, Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakova was laughing so hard she could barely breathe. She thought of all the world leaders that had to deal with Tanya's… Tanyaness because her best friend was lazy and bored one day, only caused the laughter to intensify.

Really, she had to ask about Tanya's motivation for some of her other great actions some day. Not many of them could possibly be as ridiculous as this one, but who knows? Maybe there was more than one hidden gem in those stories.

1952, March 9th, in a countryside of Bonnburg:

Zettour had been in retirement for a while now. Watching his grandchildren grow up, being involved with the community and occasionally hosting discussions with distinguished guests who seek his advice.

Most recently, he had met with the head of the BND, who had convinced him to call the Argent and Miss Serebryakov, and invite the two of them for a talk. He had also invited his family for lunch at the same time, seeing it as a good opportunity for them to make a positive impression.

He heard a knock on his door, and when he opened it, he saw that it was her. Zettour smiled, he knew that she was approaching her 40's, but she still looked like someone in their mid or late 20's.

"Herr Zettour" Tanya greeted and offered her hand, which he took.

"Frau Degurechaff, frau Serebryakov, it is good to see you two again." Zettour smiled and motioned inside his house. "Do come in. Would you like some coffee?"

"Yes, thank you. I'll take mine black." Tanya spoke.

"Coffee with milk, please." Visha added.

When the three of them entered the dining room, Tanya and Visha were surprised when Zettour's family greeted them. His great-grandchildren ran towards the two women in excitement, and Zettour smiled as he watched the young ones gush over his guests while he finished setting up the table and poured their coffee.

"Grandpa said you were our best soldier in the war!"

"Is it true that you made an entire army run just by showing up?"

"Argent! Argent!"

"Alright, children, settle down now. It would be rude to keep our guest waiting for lunch, no?"

After the children had hurriedly left, Visha giggled and leaned in to whisper to Tanya, "Aw, they were cute. Though I'm feeling a bit left out."

Tanya smiled apologetically at her, "Sorry, dear."

After everyone got settled at the table for roulade with gravy, dumplings, mashed potatoes, and cabbage, Zettour and the two women shared some personal stories of what both of them had been doing for the past few years. The old General had apparently been invited to speak of his experiences by various institutions, which Tanya thought of as a good thing – the General had a sharp mind and she was sure that there would be a lot of knowledge gleaned in his talks – and she, in return, shared with him the various happenings during her trip to places around the world. Zettour's family members occasionally asked Tanya and Visha questions on various topics, too, with the young ones largely wanting her to expound on things that they've been told. The old General seemed to have told them a lot of war stories.

Figures why the people seemed almost eager for war when the Francoise overstepped all those years ago.

"Frau Degurechaff, if I may, when I was studying at the War College, there was one historical event that I had been writing a thesis on." Alfred Zettour, one of Hans' grandchildren, spoke up. "I've been thinking about the phrases, 'War is a continuation of politics by other means' and 'War is the application of military power in pursuit of a political end', which you said when you reinstated the civilian government as being fully in charge of the military. What inspired you to see the military as purely a political tool?"

I remember that day quite well. I was hoping to get out of office by causing deep resentment from using wedge issues. Instead, everyone had been more compliant than I expected. Now I'm curious to hear how this young officer may have misinterpreted things.

I set down my coffee cup and sighed. "I believe that was after realizing the Francois Republic's military would be evacuating from Brest while the armistice was being signed. While everyone was celebrating the armistice, I was punching a door while screaming about how we were so close to ending the war entirely."

I looked at Alfred. "But it's not the responsibility of a major, or a general, to bring a conclusive end to a war. That is the responsibility of the politicians and diplomats. Even if I was allowed to destroy the Brest evacuation, the Allied Kingdom, Russy Federation and others would continue to conspire against the Empire. Such as stirring up resistance in the occupied countries and making the current counterinsurgency war in Caucasia look like a child's play."

Alfred grimaced.

"...Was it something I said?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh, no, not at all!" The man shook his head. "My apologies, Frau Degurechaff, but some of my friends were not so fortunate in Caucasia and it is… still a rather sore topic." He sighed, "I still can't comprehend why President Paul kicked aside the democracy building to end up backing someone who was just as destabilizing as the communists."

"Maybe President Paul was trying to pursue an aggressive anti-communist policy?" I shrugged. "He may have fallen for the same trap that the Empire's politicians fell for. Blinded by the initial success of their military, they squandered any opportunities to de-escalate the situation."

"Ah. If only we learned from our past…"

When quark pudding with fruit was served as dessert, Zettour cleared his throat and decided to get to the main topic of why he invited her over.

"Tanya… I've been meaning to ask… Is there a reason why you don't want to return to politics?"

Tanya sighed. She's had this conversation before. "A personal one. But I am considering running for President, although I'm still uncertain about it."

"Truly?" Zettour hummed, "Then I hope that you make the right choice."

They were both then momentarily distracted when the young ones loudly ran past the dining room, an apologetic mother trying to chase after them. The old General chuckled, "They idolize you."

"I saw." Tanya said before giving the man an accusatory look, "Though I suppose it's no small thanks to stories about me staring an entire army down and making them all flee just by doing so."

Zettour chuckled, "Children can be allowed fanciful thoughts of heroes, it can help them strive to become great people themselves." He then paused for a moment before looking at Tanya, his expression carrying a hint of regret, "Something that circumstances denied you."

There was a moment of silence from the Argent.

"I have seen your episode about your campaign for improved traffic safety, especially for children," he added. "And I also recall when you were previously in office, you had pushed through reforms for building better systems to handle orphans, single mothers, and war veterans. What if all of those could be avoided in the first place, by keeping Germania out of harm's way? After all, you have seen what has been happening in Caucasia."

"I have." Tanya confirmed before she fell into silent thought. "Say… if I do announce my bid for the Presidential election… how do you think other countries might perceive that?"

Zettour hummed, "Well, for one, I'd wager that you'd be a reasonable person who doesn't constantly threaten to end the CSR's existence in nuclear fire." He chuckled. "Having you in office would help calm down tensions."

"I was content to just quietly sit on the nuclear weapons until someone else announces that they tested one, and then maybe have a bilateral nuclear arms limitation treaty."

"Nuclear arms limitation treaty?" Visha, who had been silent aside from making some small-talk, decided to ask.

"Once other countries start having their own nuclear weapons, there will be a race to build the biggest stockpile for that false sense of security and false sense of diplomatic leverage over other countries. In the communists' situation, they would be building more of their doomsday biological weapons." Tanya sighed. "It'll be a huge waste of resources, and a risk to everyone. What happens when someone mishandles or loses track of one of those mass destruction weapons?"

"How would we know how many weapons someone has stockpiled?"

Tanya shrugged, "I don't have any solid ideas yet. Maybe limitations on missile tests and the requirement for all of them to be publicly announced ahead of time. We would need satellites to assist with missile launch detection."

"Satellites?" Zettour raised an eyebrow.

"We could launch objects into space using rockets, and have them orbit Earth." Tanya grabbed a pen to scribble on a napkin. "If we can develop a sensor that picks up on light emissions from a missile launch or at least take photos of the launch site we may be able to even get an early warning system in place. We can already transmit TV camera footage with radio waves, so that should make sending back the data easy enough. Or use the TV footage to determine where to take high resolution film photos. I'm not sure about power sources though. Mostly it's putting it all together and finding a rocket powerful enough to get them up there. But then we would be able to monitor activities around the world without having to fly reconnaissance planes through another country's airspace."

"Would the satellite also be useful for communications?" René, one of Zettour's grandchildren, inquired with a deeply interested look. "There is a Telefunken research project I am involved with where we are trying to find a way for television signals to be broadcasted around the world."

"I can see how that would be possible, yes." Tanya confirmed with a neutral expression, though internally she was glad to see an innovative mind that will surely help shape the future. "That's a natural extension of such technology, though we'd probably want to separate 'spy satellites' from 'communication satellites'. There are other uses for them too, such as…"

The talks continued for over an hour from there withRené and Tanya getting more and more technical, the other adults seemed to have some trouble wrapping their heads around the new idea at first, but one by one they fell into a state between disbelief and awe. Everyone but Zettour and Visha that was. Visha seemed completely unaffected, whilst Zettour's only reaction was a nostalgic smile.

1952, March 12th, in Berun:

It's been a while since I've been guilt-tripped into acting irrationally. But Zettour had a very good point about the future of Germania, and there was no arguing with Visha over my inability to avoid action. I feel like someone has been tugging on strings for all of these events to happen in relatively rapid succession, as there had been other people who also wanted me to be President. I'd have to make some inquiries, try and figure out who they were.

…

Oh well, at least I can count on mothers for support should I start campaigning.

Now, I do need to have some people ready to take some important posts, such as running the military. In the past, I had been concerned about his warmongering. But maybe he had calmed down during his retirement. Considering that he had stepped down stating that the war in Caucasia could only be ended with a political solution, and did not suggest escalating the war to try to crush the communists, that is a step in the right direction.

I knocked on the door. A moment passed, and I knocked on it again.

It creaked open, with only part of the man's face showing.

"Good morning Herr Lergen!" I smiled. "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything, but I'd hoped that we could talk?"

He stared at me for a long moment before sighing, "...I suppose it's time for my retirement to end." I heard him mutter as he opened the door to let me in.

Hmm. I would have expected him to welcome the opportunity to chomp at the communists. I guess he did mellow out during his retirement.

We shared some stories about what we had been doing in the past few years, and it seems he had quite mellowed out. He had been teaching at the Imperial War College, mostly on war logistics, doctrines, ethics and politics.

"Do you know Alfred Zettour?" I asked.

"Of course, he's a bright student." Lergen smiled a bit. "He wrote a thesis that proposed an 'Observe, Orient, Decide, Act' military strategy and how getting inside of an adversary's OODA loop by constantly forcing them to react to Germanian military actions would enable Germania to constantly outmaneuver slower responding enemy forces. It also called for military operations to be tightly integrated with other civilian departments' operations, instead of viewing war as a purely military affair."

"Interesting doctrine. I would like to read that."

"I'll get you a copy. Although that reminds me, to some, your actions and President Paul's seemed similar. But the results are significantly different." Lergen mused. "How?"

Telling him that I had a previous life in a world that already went through the cold war would probably give him justification to throw me out of the picture, and into a padded cell with a straitjacket. Both to avoid that fate, and to answer his question, I sidetracked a bit. I didn't know President Paul's thought process very well, but I could explain my own. Hopefully that would give him the answers he sought.

"I never believed it was worth trying to stamp out every little sign of communism. It's too much effort for too little gain, and that's assuming there would be no unintended consequences. Which is a fool's hope, at best." I grimaced at the thought. "Even if Caucasia's democracy yielded a communist-leaning government, as long as they didn't align themselves with the actual communists or begin nationalizing every business in sight, or tampering with future elections to ensure that they remained in power, I would have been content with letting them exercise their right to self-governance."

"...So you wouldn't have doubled-down on Caucasia? You… you would've just let the communists be?"

Hesitantly, I nodded. I dread to imagine what he would've done had I been still in office. "Communism can be an attractive ideology for the poor and downtrodden, but it has problems inherent to the ideology and human nature. It will thus inevitably be outcompeted by a healthy capitalistic society." I breathed. Now here comes the hardest part of the sell – convincing a wardog that we could beat the enemy without having to fight them. "Germania doesn't actually need to stamp out communism, merely keep it at bay while our progress - technological, financial, and societal, turns their antagonism irrelevant. The flaws in their system would eventually become too big to ignore and would, with a bit of a helping hand, inevitably collapse upon itself." I grinned widely and spread my hands out in a grandiose gesture. "Thus, there is no need to be as aggressive as President Paul is. Why fight a war when stalling for time will result in our victory?"

Truly, the cold war had probably been the most exquisitely fought war in human history. Warfare was a colossal waste by its very nature, but if you must fight a war, then the best you could hope for was a war where you were locked into a massive standoff of a posturing contest until one side collapsed from exhaustion. With a well functioning and efficient capitalistic system on one side, and the extremely inefficient and wasteful communistic system on the other, the end result was all but guaranteed.

The best part of the whole thing was that the communists could never understand this truth, since doing so meant admitting and internalizing the faults of their own ideology. Even if one of them realized it, they could never warn their colleagues, because doing so would be the same as admitting that capitalism was the superior way of doing things.

Now that I'm thinking about it, Germania already went through that back in its early years. I recall Elya proposed squashing all of the communists that she had identified, and I instructed her to leave the rank and file alone. Sure enough, the communist movement in Germania faded away with the recovery and then the booming of the economy, along with the establishment of social safety nets.

For a moment Lergen looked shocked. His eyes searched my face, and so I endeavored to show him the full extent of my honesty and the belief I had in my claim.

The man looked deep in thought at that before he slowly nodded to himself. "For a while I was concerned you would become the next Napoleon. I feared you would seek to dominate Europe, and, if you actually succeeded, to look beyond." Lergen's face hardened as his eyes stared into space. For a moment I thought I could see a fire of determination shining within them, a fire that sent a shiver down my spine, but then his expression softened again and he let out a deep sigh. "But that never happened. You had your chance. You won the war. Your powerbase was strong. After the second Europan War, few, if any, could have stopped you. But then you just… didn't. Instead, your self-restraint led directly to peace in Europe. You even stepped down from office. If it wasn't for the CSR and President Paul, things would have been fine. We would have been able to safely downsize our military. Maybe even to a point not seen for centuries. Imagine that, true peace for the entire continent. Maybe, eventually, for the entire world."

I stared at Erich von Lergen with my mouth half agape. World peace!? That's what he wanted? And he sounded so wistful too! That didn't sound anything like the Lergen I knew!

I spent a few seconds quickly scanning for illusion spells or really any local magical emissions. There was nothing. This was Lergen, the same warmonger I'd known, respected, and feared since I was 9 years old.

Wait, back up! He thought I was the warmonger?! What made him believe that?

I couldn't just dismiss him as insane either, not with his sterling record and demonstrated intelligence. But that left only-

Lergen began talking again, headless of my rapidly deteriorating state of mind. "During the Bharatian War, a few of my colleagues suggested we keep the war going. They were suspicious of the CSR's mass suicidal mage assault on the Albish navy, and wanted to see if they had more mages to spare for another such assault. How do you think the war would have progressed if it kept going?"

Shaking myself off from the mental spiral I'd been stuck in, I pushed all my previous thoughts aside and focused solely on his question. He was testing me here. I knew. I couldn't afford to be distracted during such a crucial talk. I'd come back to my previous revelations… later.

After a moment to truly consider his question, I took a piece of paper and began sketching out two differing war plans. "The first option would have been that we didn't use our nuclear weapons and the coalition partners didn't drop out of the war. It would have been a slow grind through the mountains, which the communists would obviously have fortified if it became apparent that peace was not coming. Sibyria would have been even worse, with the temperature problems and supplies having to pass through a mountain range all but designed for guerrilla warfare. Then we'd risk the Rus getting their act together in order to combat our invasion. We might have been able to occupy the coastlines and the mouths of the major rivers with the coalition's naval supremacy. Maybe, eventually, we would have been able to completely occupy the Chinese Soviet Republic and the Russy Confederation. But then what?"

"Mass insurgency everywhere." Lergen sighed.

I nodded, "We would have been bleeding ourselves dry for decades to come. Heart-and-mind campaigns would be tough in such conditions. It would simply not be worth the effort for such uncertain gains." I shrugged, then tapped on the second, far shorter plan. "The second, and only, viable option if our allies had deserted us, would have called for nukes. Lots and lots of nukes. Which…" I grimaced at the idea. "It would have been bad." Understatement of the century, that.

It would have gotten rid of every bit of international goodwill we had. It would have replaced cooperation with fear, while simultaneously starting a nuclear arms race that would have a good chance at destroying the world.

No thanks. I hadn't survived two wars and Being X's machinations only to blow up civilization because of my (admittedly justified) crusade against communism.

Lergen nodded at my answer, giving very little indication as to what he thought. I was almost relieved at that. After his earlier comments I don't think I could have handled anything more.

"What are your goals once you become President?" He finally asked.

I hesitated for a moment, a bit uncertain where I should begin. But, then he had talked about peace, hadn't he? Even if it still twisted my mind into knots thinking about it. "Fixing the mess in Caucasia." I sighed. "I don't have any solid ideas as of now, unfortunately. Maybe salvage a region or two and focus on stabilizing them. We'd have to prioritize fostering a fair democracy. Definitely not escalating a pointless war. Maybe Alfred's doctrine proposal would be useful for that type of operation."

"And the communists?"

I recalled that in my previous world, the United States and the Soviet Union had spent decades staring at each other. Neither side wanted to be the first one to kick off a third world war. So they engaged in proxy wars and backroom political maneuvering in multiple countries to exert their influence. While the American and Russian tanks never shot at each other directly, you still had American tanks being lit on fire in Vietnam, and Russian tanks lit on fire in Afghanistan. And when China and the Soviet Union broke ties, the Americans had no issues supporting China, a communist country, because they perceived the Soviet Union to be the greater threat.

"We are at a point where neither side is actively seeking to start another global war. So it would be best if Germania focuses on hybrid warfare."

Lergen had a perplexed look. "Hybrid warfare?"

"The usage of many different tools to wear down an enemy. Not just the military. It could include influencing a neutral country's politics using diplomacy, economics, trade, disaster relief, sponsoring their public health and education systems, and other such heart-and-mind campaigns."

"And in the ideal situation, not a single shot fired." Lergen smiled, although it was soon replaced by a look of concern. "But based on how the communists are merely inciting chaos in Caucasia and the European colonies, it seems they have their own hybrid warfare plan."

I grinned widely. Oh, yes. I was aware of that. I was prepared for that. "I suppose we will just have to outplay them then."

Was it just me or did Lergen actually look scared?

1952, March 18th, somewhere in Germania:

We had gotten a letter from Dr. Schugel who asked us to meet. It didn't take long for me to recognize it was the same location that I had tested, and melted, the prototype Type 99 orb so many years ago.

I wasn't too keen about being a test pilot, but curiosity got the better of me of what he might have come up with. As long as I stood off on the sidelines, I should be fine.

When we arrived at the site, we saw Dr. Schugel who was all smiles. He still looked as unhinged as ever, with a rosary prominently displayed around his neck.

"Ah! I am excited to introduce something that I never would have thought possible just a few years ago! The Elektrische Computational Orb, or for short, the E-2 Orb. And the Type H-10 Orb."

I looked at the orbs on the table. If they were orbs, they looked like metal bricks with a waist strap. A few others looked a bit smaller, though, whilst a final pair looked completely different from the rest.

"Interesting design." I mused.

"The American companies didn't have their silicon transistors ready, so we had to work with metal ones." he sighed. "It'll take some time to learn how to make the electronics all tightly fit like the mechanical orbs."

That was something new. Dr. Schugel created an intermediate design instead of pursuing perfection. And that there were competitors against the FRD Semiconductors. It would be a shame if Visha's and my investment in that company didn't pan out, but crushing the communists under a tidal wave of technological progress from healthy market economies would be a reward in itself.

"What were the planned designs that you wanted to do?" I asked innocently.

"Silicon based transistors and Type 100's mechanical components! He loudly declared, "The idiots at Elenium Arms said they were struggling with manufacturing the Type 100 and had no timeline of when it would enter mass production. They even asked me to simplify the design! A design that could allow mages to reach the speed of sound! A design that I envisioned in my dreams when I was meditating up on a mountain! As if! Heretics, the lot of them! Meanwhile the Americans said they were having problems with their silicon transistors, also without a timeline of when those would be resolved. The only reason I created a design with the prototype silicon transistors was because they claimed it would be easier to manufacture than the metal based transistors and thus cheaper. I can't work my miracles if everyone else isn't performing!"

Of course he would be annoyed at others for not keeping up with his level of genius. Although now I'm curious…

"What American companies are supplying components for the E-2 and E-3?"

"Oklahoma Instruments and FRD Semiconductors are competing for the silicon transistor bid, which will be canceled if neither can deliver on what they promised. Philadelphia Battery Company is the one selling us the metal based transistors."

Ah, good to see some market competition.

"What's the difference between the two of these orbs?" Visha asked, pointing at the table.

"The smaller one is the H-10, which has the solid state electronics and some of the H-8's mechanical parts. The biggest gain is that it is more mana efficient for the C-tier mages, although there is still room for improvement." Dr. Schugel said as he then picked up the larger brick. "The E-2 uses the same solid state electronics but doubled, and with the Type 99 Orb's mechanical parts. We had to double the electronics content to ensure that they could handle continuous stealth casting and short duration of reduced emissions casting, which both are more efficient compared to the Type 99's stealth and reduced emissions casting."

As he handed us the E-2 Orbs, his voice turned stern. "Do not push the electronics too hard, and don't ever use regular casting with them. When overloaded, they could overheat and the transistors will enter a thermal runaway condition and keep heating up by themselves until they break. Even if the temperatures are normal, too much power can still cause them to burn out."

Wait, he's actually taking safety into consideration due to a technical issue? That's never a good sign.

"There's no way to avoid those two overload failures if the orb is used too hard?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes. "I couldn't believe it when the Americans told me they had no idea how to stop it, other than avoid having it happen in the first place."

"What about a protection circuit, at least to divert the magic to the mechanical portion to protect the electronics?" Visha asked.

"Bah! Needless complexity!" Shugel dismissed her concerns with a wave of his hand, but Visha kept pushing.

"There is always the possibility of someone making a mistake in the heat of combat" She pointed out," They might end up powering up the electronics instead of the Type 99 mechanical components."

As the exchange got more heated, I rolled my eyes and got set to join in. Of course the madman would refuse to implement safeguards. We had some heated discussions until he begrudgingly accepted having to implement some sort of an overload protection to prevent inexperienced mages from frying the orbs by the dozens.

After he finished the rest of the briefing on how to properly use the orb, Visha and I walked away to try them out. I had my Type 99 orb in my pocket as a precaution.

We did some basic flight testing and some standard casting, and it behaved exactly like the Type 99 if we were tapping into the mechanical portion. No point in me trying to break the sound barrier, I'll let someone else deal with that.

The stealth and brief reduced emissions casting with the electronic portion was an eye opener, it reminded me of the Junghans Mark Three that I had first experimented with. I had to be much closer to Visha to detect her reduced emissions casting until she switched back to the Type 99 components.

"How was it?" Dr. Schugel beamed with a smile as we landed.

"Did you also design new detectors to counter the E-2's stealth and reduced emissions casting?"

"Yes, but the detector needs far more work to be effective against the E-2, and even more against the E-3. The Type 100's reduced emission casting has a similar mana usage compared to the E-2's electronic reduced emission casting, thanks to its overall improved efficiency. I originally didn't expect the E-2 to be able to handle reduced emissions casting until Philadelphia Battery Company's transistors were available for me to use. They were expecting the transistors to be used in a radio!"

He then picked up the E-3 orbs. "I prepared these specifically for the two of you to test them."

When we were about to take off again, Visha asked, "You said the Type 100 could allow mages to reach the speed of sound, and that is in the E-3?"

He grinned widely. "That feature hasn't been tested, but I'd love to see you two give it a go!"

After we've flown away from him, I sent a message to Visha that I did not feel comfortable with pushing the E-3 to its limits.

Initially there was no response, but then she flew up to me. "You don't want to?" She looked like I'd stolen her favorite teddy bear.

"No, I'd rather not." I sighed, trying to keep my heart steady. "My days of being a test pilot are over. Remember when I mentioned melting my Type 99 orb when I was testing it?"

She nodded. "Okay, we'll just do the same things as last time then. We could do a short sprint and hard stop to test the acceleration. I do want to try out the reduced emissions testing with the Type 100."

"Yeah, that seems fine. We'll sprint for three seconds."

Visha looked down at her watch. "Ready, set, go!"

As I poured in the mana for the sprint, it caught me by surprise of how much mana the orb would take within its rated limit, which was noticeably higher than the Type 99, and how fast we jerked forward and came to a stop. It almost overwhelmed my body reinforcement spells. I looked over and saw Visha was a bit disoriented from that sprint.

"Are you okay, dear?" I called out.

"I'm fine. I just underestimated the forces we'd be under, that's all. My reinforcement spells were a little weak. That was really fast!"

On a closer examination of the limiter design, it had two different limits. There was the high limit that scales between 2 to 10 seconds depending on the mana usage that only resets after several seconds, with the 2 seconds limit being double of the Type 99's limit, and then the sustained operation limit which was about the same as the Type 99. Combined with the overall better efficiency, it was the apex of mechanical orbs. Only outmatched by the Type 95 for sustained high power operation, but that one comes with a nasty side effect of mental corruption and the tiny little fact that no one else could figure out how to use it without, you know, exploding.

When we tested the reduced emissions and stealth casting, the electronic portion, as predicted by Dr. Schugel, had a similar reduced emissions performance as the Type 100's casting. It offered only minor improvements over the Type 100's stealth casting. Theoretically he could have just pushed forward with the Type 100 design alone, but then again, we're talking about a very refined mechanical orb being compared against a prototype solid state electronic orb.

A thought came to my head. We had only been using one component at a time. What if I treat this as a tri-core orb? Like the Type 95 except with one less core and far less power?

I started off with stealth multicasting using both components. Visha came over when she saw me struggle.

"What are you doing? I thought you said your days of being a test pilot were over."

"I just wanted to see if I could use this as a tri-core orb, at least with the stealth casting."

I decided to try to cast a shield spell using all of the components. I did have to make some modifications to the spell to split the workload, and it was taking a lot of mental work trying to hold the shield together while synchronizing the three cores, but after several minutes, it felt like I was getting the hang of it.

"Visha, punch me. I want you to test against my shield spell."

"What shield spell?"

Now things just got interesting.

Visha punched me, and had a look of confusion on her face when she saw my shield flickering in response. Hmm, it needs more work so it doesn't destabilize when struck so lightly, and maybe I could have it not emit excessive mana when struck.

"You stealth casted a shield?!"

"It's not exactly stable if it is flickering from you punching it." I shrugged.

"That's not the point Tanya! We're talking about full stealth in combat!"

When we landed, Visha rushed over to Dr. Schugel.

"Dr. Schugel, have any of the test pilots tried using both the mechanical and electrical portions at the same time?"

"One of them burned up two orbs trying that." He had an annoyed look on his face, but then his eyes widened at Visha and he started to grin. "Did one of you figure it out? Maybe you might have more success!"

This was bad. I did not want to be his personal test pilot again.

I took a hold of Visha's shoulders. "No, we were just curious. I'd rather not break your orbs."

"Ah, ah, ah! Thou shall not lie!"

He then grabbed three E-2 orbs and shoved them into Visha's hands. "Let me know if you are able to simultaneously use the Type 99's stealth casting with the electronics, and if you need more orbs, I will start working on building more E-3 orbs for her to test! If the 'protection' circuit is a necessity for simultaneous operation, then I'll happily add it in!"

No, no, no! I need a way out of this!

I took a step back. "Dr. Schugel, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but we're just private citizens. I'm not sure if we are allowed to conduct testing with Germania's top secret prototypes."

"If President Paul gives you a hard time, tell him I was the one who authorized the two of you for the testing. I could care less of what his incompetent brain and mouth comes up with!"

"When she becomes President again, would you still try to force her to test the orbs?" Visha smirked.

The doctor blinked, "She is…? Well of course not if she is President! How would I even do that?" But he then grinned, "But she's not the President right now, is she?"

Wait, wait, wait! This madman can't force me to do anyt-

"Weeeell… In that case, do you have rifles for us to test the orbs with?" Visha asked with a grin. "Maybe we can try out stealth casting explosive spells on bullets. Or stealth multi-casting!"

I whirled around to face my partner, my eyes wide and a single thought in my mind:

"Traitor!"

AN:

Context on the "every soldier killed will have 10 people shot":

wiki/Kraljevo_massacre

The number of hostages to be shot was calculated based on a ratio of 100 hostages executed for every German soldier killed and 50 hostages executed for every German soldier wounded, a formula devised by Adolf Hitler with the intent of suppressing anti-Nazi resistance in Eastern Europe.

The massacre at Kraljevo, as well as a similar and nearly concurrent massacre in nearby Kragujevac, convinced German commanders that mass killings of Serbian hostages were not only ineffectual but also counterproductive, as they drove locals into the hands of insurgents and sometimes resulted in the deaths of factory workers contributing to the German war effort.

en/when-nazis-killed-100-serbs-per-dead-german-in-yugoslavia/a-59568136

Context on the Caucasia's President trying to blackmail Germania with negotiating with the communists: wiki/Ngo_Dinh_Diem#Religious_policies_and_the_Buddhist_crisis

Nhu's purpose in leaking the meeting was to blackmail the United States with the message that if Kennedy continued to criticize Diem's handling of the Buddhist crisis, Diem would reach an understanding with the Communists. The Kennedy administration reacted with fury at what Alsop had revealed.[133] In a message to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Roger Hilsman urged that a coup against Diem be encouraged to take place promptly, saying that the mere possibility that Diem might make a deal with the Communists meant that he had to go.[133]

wiki/History_of_the_transistor#Early_commercialization

Up until the late 1950s, however, germanium remained the dominant semiconductor material for transistors and other semiconductor devices. Germanium was initially considered the more effective semiconductor material, as it was able to demonstrate better performance due to higher carrier mobility.[26][27] The relative lack of performance in early silicon semiconductors was due to electrical conductivity being limited by unstable quantum surface states,[28] preventing electricity from reliably penetrating the surface to reach the semiconducting silicon layer.[29][30]

…

By 1953, the transistor was being used in some products, such as hearing aids and telephone exchanges, but there were still significant issues preventing its broader application, such as sensitivity to moisture and the fragility of the wires attached to germanium crystals.[38]

Semiconductor companies initially focused on junction transistors in the early years of the semiconductor industry. However, the junction transistor was a relatively bulky device that was difficult to manufacture on a mass-production basis, which limited it to a number of specialised applications.[39]

The metal transistor that I was referring to: wiki/Surface-barrier_transistor

The world's first all-transistor car radio, was developed and produced by Chrysler and Philco in 1955.

Which that transistor was a category of this type: wiki/Bipolar_junction_transistor#History

The germanium transistor was more common in the 1950s and 1960s but has a greater tendency to exhibit thermal runaway.

wiki/Safe_operating_area#Secondary_breakdown

Secondary breakdown is a failure mode in bipolar power transistors. In a power transistor with a large junction area, under certain conditions of current and voltage, the current concentrates in a small spot of the base-emitter junction. This causes local heating, progressing into a short between collector and emitter. This often leads to the destruction of the transistor. Secondary breakdown can occur both with forward and reverse base drive.[2] Except at low collector-emitter voltages, the secondary breakdown limit restricts the collector current more than the steady-state power dissipation of the device.[3]