Chapter 16: Weiden Outskirts
Vehicles: General Terrain Climber
While rubber significantly impacted the Industrial Revolution, its relative scarcity has led to a limited motorization of society, with the only wheeled vehicles in the world being mostly small agricultural tricycles or public transports. For a long time, the idea of motorizing entire armies has been a longing dream of any military leadership.
Agusta-Northland seems to have finally realized that wish with the introduction of the General Terrain Climber, or GTC, for short. This truck is much larger and powerful than any other personal vehicle and it's capable of transporting up to 14 people in the rear bed. Most importantly, the wheels are made of a special polymer that only uses a tiny percentage of rubber, and it's still durable enough to make it fit for several harsh terrain.
The GTC has already been met with enthusiastic feedback by the armies of Gallia and the Federation, proving itself a true game changer by significantly reducing the time of delivering supplies while increasing the amount of material traffic for the allied armies. The Vinlandian Army has already commissioned several thousands of them as a result.
August 21, 1935.
As the first lights of day rose, Claude felt quite optimistic, even if he and his squad were about to throw themselves against an elite imperial unit. He looked once again at the picture that Welkin sent him, alongside the letter that was in the envelope and that he had basically ignored at first given the excitement.
"So, boss, does all of that mean that the Gallians are winning the war?" Alfred asked from his seat.
"They have confined the Imperials to the north-eastern plains. I can't say if they are winning, but right now most of Gallia is free again, that's for sure." Claude replied gladly.
"Say...uh…" Ramirez asked as if he was prepared to receive some horrible news. "I have not seen Isara in that picture. Is she…?"
Even Miles and Alfred suddenly realized that and a moment of doubt gripped their hearts, as well. Luckily, Claude dashed it away.
"Oh, no, no, no. Welkin mentions in the letter that she has been transferred, but he's not allowed to say where, not over a written message."
The rest of the crew drew a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness. That kid is a prodigy, I would have hated if she had been killed off on the battlefield." Alfred commented.
"If he can't tell where she went, and I doubt she would have accepted to be put in any other unit, she must have gone to R ." Miles pondered.
"Ah, that would make sense." Ramirez said. "Well, glad she's safe."
"Let's make sure we stay as well." Claude intervened with a serious tone. "We're approaching the lab. Eyes open."
The others stopped chatting and prepared for battle, for Claude could hear the sound of cracking shots getting ever closer. That clearly came from the city, where other major units of the Federal Army were trying to force their way in, giving the Rangers the opportunity to reach the research center at the southernmost edge of the settlement.
Claude looked behind him: the rest of the squad was aboard two GTC trucks, which were faring just ahead of Squad B's tank and infantry, while in front of the Hafen there was only the view of a small forest with a hill at the center, on top of which stood the laboratory they were aiming at.
Out in the open like that, the young Lieutenant didn't need any wind whisper to realize that the defenders certainly knew that they were about to receive a visit, so he radioed command to inform them that Squad E had spotted the objective.
"Claude, Squad B will provide you reinforcements once you confirm the enemy positions." Minerva instructed on the radio.
"Understood. Squad E, moving out." Wallace replied before signaling his men to assume attack formation and then closed himself inside the turret.
In front of them there was quite a large road, which had clearly been build to facilitate the viability between the lab and the city. So far, however, Claude couldn't see any defensive position of the imperials, which could only mean that they were hiding in the trees and the bushes.
"Raz, Kai, make a sweep on our flanks. I want to know where the enemy is." he ordered.
"You got it." said his friend, who immediately proceeded to split up the ground team: he took the right flank while Kai led the team on the left, which had a slightly higher elevation that she and the snipers could use to their advantage.
It didn't take long before Raz alerted that his team had encountered and engaged an enemy patrol, and that the imperials had dark-gray and red uniforms.
"Gray and red?" Claude muttered to himself. He remembered the only time he had seen soldiers dressed like that. "Squad, be extremely careful. They're the same troops we fought at Adeph, with the black tank."
"Well, that explains why they fire so well." Raz commented like he had just dodged death. "No tank in sight, though."
"Mortar team in position and ready to fire." Riley reported.
"Contact on this side, as well." Kai added. "A machine-gun in the woods!"
"Can you take care of it?"
"Please…" a shot resonated inside the radio and a few seconds later, Kai commented "Too easy."
"Keep pushing. Miles, take us forward, slow and easy."
The Hafen started moving, with a few members of the Squad staying on the edges of the road to protect it in case of an enemy ambush. Soon enough, as they went over a turn on the right, they were met with some hailing fire of machine-guns and an anti-tank gun behind a barricade. A shell hit the Hafen straight on the corner, but luckily it only threw down the sandbags protecting that part of the hull, but they needed to react quickly.
"Evasive maneuvers! Alfred, take that cannon out!"
"Got it on scope!" the gunner replied after a few seconds.
"Fire!"
The tank fired and the shell flew straight against the cannon, blowing it up alongside the two gunners. Meanwhile the rest of the barricade kept firing and a Lancer fired his own projectile right where the Hafen had been left without the additional layer. The whole tank was violently shaken as the explosion went off outside, yet it didn't penetrate completely, as the insides were still intact and the tank apparently still moved.
"This is Squad E, we encountered enemy fortifications. Requesting reinforcements."
"This is Squad B. We got your back, Wallace." Lieutenant Morris replied.
Soon, the second team sprang forward and, with their renewed strength, the Rangers overcame the enemy barricade with only slight losses. The Hafen's crew confirmed that the tank was still in fighting shape and decided to press on, with Squad B's armored vehicle taking the lead while Aulard fixed the protections of the Hafen as best as he could. In the meantime, Raz and Kai's team had successfully pushed back the few Imperials they found in front of them and were now joining the final push toward the facility.
The Hafen and the Firefly, Morris' tank, moved forward on the road, firing with their machine-guns at the retreating imperials. Yet Claude kept looking around: this was way too easy.
Barely had he thought that, all of a sudden what looked like a shiny pebble flew inside the Firefly, which exploded with abrupt violence almost immediately as its ammo magazine had been hit. All that was left was the charred skeleton of the tank, till embroiled in the dancing flames. Yet there was no time to mourn, because Claude had clearly seen the trajectory of the shell that had caused that, so he ordered Alfred to turn the turret while Miles applied evasive maneuvers.
Soon enough, Alfred spotted the silhouette of a moving cannon and fired right below the barrel. The shell collided against something and exploded, but it didn't look like it had destroyed the source. Nonetheless, it seemed to stun the enemy crew long enough for Miles to get out of their firing line.
Almost immediately, from the left side of the forest emerged the black tank, looking for the Hafen like a hungry predator.
"Ready!" Ramirez yelled.
"Aim at the turret!" Claude ordered.
Alfred fired and the shell connected, but simply bounced off the enemy armor. The black tank fired, but Miles rolled in place just enough so that the projectile missed them.
"Great job, Miles!" Claude complimented. "Now get us inside the forest!"
"On it!" the Sergeant replied, even if any tank driver would dread throwing their machine inside a terrain like a forest.
"Lancers, we need fire support against that tank!"
Luckily for the crew of the Hafen, the Lancers of both Squads had rallied and suddenly a volley of five rounds flew toward the black tank. Three of them hit but couldn't penetrate the armor. But two of them finally showed a gaudy crack in the flank of the armor.
The black tank was forced to fall back and fire from a safer distance while its soldiers gathered around and engaged a furious firefight with the Rangers.
"Wallace to mortar team. We need fire support!" he called.
No answer came. He tried again, but only the sound of mortars firing followed, and they clearly were not landing where he had asked.
"...ad E. Come in, Squad E!" the voice of Colonel Borswood intervened.
"This is Squad E." Claude promptly replied.
"The rest of the company behind you has been ambushed. What's the status of Squad B?"
After a split second to realize that they were in a very bad position, Claude reported the sad fate of the Firefly and of Lieutenant Morris.
"Sir, how's the situation back there?"
"The Imps are pushing hard. You need to fall back and assist the defense before they cut you off, Lieutenant."
Claude looked around. Enemy reinforcements were coming in from the research facility, as well. Indeed, without additional support, they could not expect to win this fight.
"Roger that...Wallace to all units. We are pulling back. Squad B, you should come with us."
"This is Sergeant Walney of Squad B. Get moving, Squad E, we'll cover your back while we retreat."
"What, trying to steal the hero spot?!" Raz barged in with his confident tone. "We're helping you. Claude, we'll keep them off your hull. Get the Hafen back before that monster blows you up, too."
"Be careful, Raz." Claude warned severely but overall trusting the judgment of his friend. "Everyone else, we need to rescue the company."
The ambush was proceeding quite well as Dahau could see from his observation spot, not much far from the cacophony of shots and cracking of bullets all around him. His Calamity Ravens had managed to storm the Federal column on the flank; Nikola and Chiara were having quite the time just jumping out of the bushes, shoot with their crossbows and then hide again. Though overall, Dahau had to commend the rapid reaction of the Rangers. It seemed like they weren't called an elite unit just for image.
"They are tough, I'll give them that." he commented to one of his bodyguards. "But it's time to end this." and reached his earpiece. "Colonel Waltz, what's the situation over there?"
"Looks like they have had enough of dancing. Alas, I'll have to let them go." the Lieutenant-Colonel replied with his usual flirty voice.
Dahau sighed. "Does that mean they're falling back, sir?" he asked, slightly annoyed at how his formal superior officer felt the need to avoid operational vocabulary.
"Yup. You can send the Princess in."
"Copy that." he replied before turning behind him. "Lady Crymaria. It's your moment to intervene."
The Valkyria was waiting fairly patiently under a tree, her scepter as a support and Fenrir never leaving her side. She stepped out from below the leaves and asked calmly "Do I have to hold back?"
"As long as you avoid hitting my men...no."
A smirk seemingly appeared on the icy face of the Valkyria, as her eyes started glowing as she was increasingly engulfed in the blue flame of her kind. "Good." she said.
Soon, the air became chiller and that unnatural glowing snow started appearing out of the Valkyria's energy. The other Darcsen soldiers watched with a respectful reverence as the explosive crystals started forming around the woman, forming a flying arch around her. Then, when she moved her staff forward, those crystals were shot forward with that unnatural whistle that sounded like a distorted symphony.
Those icy bullets flew toward the Federal troops. To the witch's credit, they were indeed avoiding the Imperials with admirable accuracy.
And while Dahau felt quite confident that such a volley would easily vaporize a good quarter of the enemy forces, all of a sudden a beam of energy rose to the skies and quickly moved to destroy half of the crystals. The remaining bolts landed, but on the edge of the road, thus dealing only a moderate amount of damage on the enemy.
"What was that?!" one of the bodyguards asked baffled and slightly panicking.
"Another one!?" Crymaria exclaimed, both surprised and frustrated.
"Another…?" Dahau asked before quickly realizing. At that point he hastily called his squad leader. "Zig! Fall back immediately!"
"Y-yes, Captain!" the young Lieutenant replied, clearly intimidated by something.
And as Crymaria's declaration easily led to believe, another azure flame was emerging right in front of the Federal formation.
Dahau promptly called Waltz again. "Lieutenant-Colonel, be advised: the enemy has a Valkyria, as well."
"The Feds?" Waltz asked baffled. "Since when?"
"I don't know, but we need to change our plan, and fast!"
"All right, listen: the last convoy has just left the lab. We'll have to belay the demolition of the facility, but whatever. Come over my side, we'll attack the Feds and try to squeeze a corridor for you."
"Understood. All forces, we are pulling back to the laboratory."
It wasn't that simple, however: the Calamity Raven had planned around the idea that they would be able to push back the federals quite easily with that ambush, and only after that they would converge toward Walz and destroy the enemy vanguard before retreating entirely.
But with the sudden appearance of a Valkyria on their side, the Federals had quickly recovered from the initial surprise and were firing back quite efficiently.
As he moved to rally his men, Dahau could see that the Valkyria on the opposite side started firing with her lance, taking out a few of her opponents, but she was staying very close to her allies.
"Crymaria, keep firing on the enemy. It doesn't matter if you can't land a hit: just keep that woman busy."
The Valkyria seemed to understand where the Captain wanted to do. Knowing that she would be at great disadvantage if the fight became a melee, she fired another salvo of crystals before starting to move alongside the Ravens.
As Dahau expected, the enemy Valkyria focused on intercepting the crystals in order to protect her allies. That meant that she wouldn't go on the offensive that easily.
"Lydia. Bring the Echidna over here, quick." he ordered in his earpiece.
The gun fight kept going on, with losses on both sides. The situation deteriorated for the Darcsens when the retreating Federal vanguard crossed their paths and tried to push through in order to rejoin their comrades while avoiding Walz's chase. For a few brief seconds, the two sides ran into each other in a furious melee, with Zig riding on the frontline to gather the few Ravens locked in that unfavorable situation.
It was in those few chaotic minutes that the young Lieutenant spotted one of the Federals recklessly charging and firing some of his men at point-blank range, so he rushed to intercept him. He was slightly surprised to notice that the shocktrooper was a Darcsen, but that didn't deter him to jump forward with his gun.
On the other hand, the other Darcsen now looked in shock at Zig for a split second. The young Lieutenant concluded that the man couldn't see that he was fighting other Darcsens because the Ravens mostly covered their faces.
Zig fired, but the other man reacted fairly quickly and dodged, getting only a bullet on his left pauldron. Zig realized that he had rushed things and that the man, much taller and bulkier than him, was throwing himself at him. Before he realized it, Zig found himself pinned to the ground. Two of his men tried to rescue him but other Federals jumped out of nowhere and fired at them, stopping them in their tracks.
"Leave me!" he ordered them as his mouth was still free to talk. "Go help the Captain!"
With little choice left, his men retreated while firing back. Zig struggled, but that man was way heavier than him and as soon as two more federals grabbed him and put restraints on him, he stopped resisting and quietly let himself be escorted to the rear.
With mounting casualties and with the black tank suddenly aided by another massive tank, the Rangers decided that the attack had failed and retreated. The Imperials didn't pursuit, clearly afraid of escalating the fight given the fact that both sides had a Valkyria and the mere presence of those powerful creatures made each faction hesitant to deliver the killing blow.
Nonetheless, a couple of hours later, the Rangers tried again, only to find out that the Imperials had abandoned the research facility, which was by now entirely despoiled of anything useful. Whatever documentation they couldn't transport, they had burned in the courtyard.
Borswood wasn't happy at all about this: he had lost two tanks and one of his Lieutenants with nothing to show for it. Nonetheless, he commended the troops for their bravery and since the attack on Weiden was going smoothly, Command had told them to dig in at the facility and wait for new orders.
Squad E had taken shelter into one of the larger rooms, probably a dismissed chemical lab, large enough to host the whole group.
"Those soldiers were clearly not normal imperial grunts." Alfred commented at one point. "Just what were they defending?"
"I'm afraid we will not find the answer here." Claude said with embittered resignation. His mind kept going back at what happened to the Firefly and how it could very well have happened to him. In fact, he felt like it should have happened to him. Morris was a good officer and he wouldn't have had to stay in front and take that hit if Claude had managed the battle better. "This mission has been a resounding failure."
"And it would've ended much worse if Ligritte hadn't been there to help." Kai underlined with the same feeling of powerlessness.
"We still got it much better than Squad B." Riley commented in kind.
Morale had taken a severe blow. This was the first real defeat of the Ranger Corp since its inception.
"If they were employing a Valkyria to defend this place...could it be that whatever they were doing in here had to do with her and her people?" Teresa Leach asked.
"That would certainly be something extremely important." Jimmy commented.
"But what could that be?" Ryan Ford continued. "A new weapon for them?"
"As the Lieutenant said, we won't find the answer, today." Mabel Drake concluded.
"Who says so? We have a prisoner, right?" Viola Bryce said with a certain emphasis. "Quite special, I might add, because what's a dark-hair doing with an Imperial uniform?"
"Viola!" Claude immediately reprimanded for the use of that derogatory nickname.
But without caring about it too much, Raz intervened somberly "I had heard it from Gusurg, Kurt's tank driver, that they had faced this group, back in Gallia: an irregular Imperial unit made up of Darcsens. I didn't want to believe it at first, but…"
Barely had he finished that sentence, that Minerva walked inside.
"Ah, here you are." and then turned her head right toward him. "Sergeant Raz, we need your help."
"Me?" the Darcsen asked a little surprised.
"Yes. The prisoner refuses to speak unless we bring you, specifically. You are the one who captured him, perhaps you impressed him in some way."
Still a bit uncertain, Raz turned his head toward his commander and friend, who got the gist and politely asked. "May I accompany him?"
"I don't think it's a problem as long as you simply watch." Minerva concluded.
So the two of them headed for the underground level, where the young Darcsen imperial had been segregated and was sitting at a table inside a room. Borswood was on the other side while two guards were waiting outside the door and one was watching inside.
The Colonel was simply smoking his pipe, showing to the prisoner that he was a patient man. The young Darcsen turned his head toward Raz as soon as he and Claude stepped inside. Following his gaze, Borswood turned his head, too, prompting the two to make the salute.
"Ah, Sergeant Raz. Please, take a seat with us."
"Yes, sir." the man promptly replied and reached the second chair next to Borswood while Claude waited at the door, still intent on listening.
Raz sat down and, still a bit nervous since he had never participated in an interrogation and he was used to think that this kind of things to be more...'on-hand'...he cleared his voice and decided to ask straight to that young guy.
"Hi. They said you wanted to see me."
The Imperial Darcsen looked at him with a satisfied grin. "Indeed. My name is Zig. Lieutenant of the Calamity Raven. May I ask for your?" he asked quite politely.
Raz needed a moment of confused humming before replying "Sure...my name is Raz. Sergeant."
"I see. It's an honor to know you, Raz. You impressed me quite a lot today."
Not sure if he should feel threatened, taunted or flattered, Raz awkwardly massaged the back of his neck. "Thanks...I guess?" then he remembered that he had questions of his own. "You said your unit is called Calamity Raven?"
"Yes. We are the first all-Darcsen military unit in the history of Europa."
Raz heard that and still struggled to come to terms with that idea. He was used to idea that Darcsens who would ever find the balls to grab a weapon were a slim percentage of the population, but facts that day had put that preconception two feet beneath.
Yet, the question gnawing at his mind was another one. "But why fighting for the Imps? Have you guys heard of what they were doing to our folk back in Fouzen?!" he asked, embittered by the memory.
"What did they do?" Zig asked calmly, as if he was ready to believe the words that would come next, yet he seemed already prepared for them, perhaps even bored.
"They worked them to death, and if that wasn't enough, they were willing to burn them all alive! They forced them to live inside literal shit holes! How can you guys accept to do their dirty work?!"
"That's it? Well, they have been quite tame." Zig replied, as if Raz's words had simply proved he was right in thinking that it would be boring.
The Feds were completely astonished by those words.
"In the Empire, Darcsens are confined in separated neighborhoods if not villages. We barely get any scraps to eat, and any citizen is allowed to beat or kill any of us on a whim."
"Then I'm asking it again: why in hell are you guys fighting for them?!" Raz asked angrily.
"I'm not doing this for them. I'm doing this for the Captain. He has a plan to establish an independent Darcsen nation. And I'm willing to give my life for that dream."
"A Darcsen nation?" Borswood asked
Zig made a firm nod. "Captain Dahau has his way to powerful personalities. If we help the Empire, he can push for the creation of an independent nation for our people."
Raz made a choked gasp. The concept of a nation for the Darcsens was so...alien, to anybody in Europa. Darcsens had never had an organized state since the arrival of the Valkyrur, nearly two millennia before.
And yet, it pulled a cord inside him that he wasn't aware of having.
"And you trust the Imps to give you something like that? They want nothing but to erase us from the face of the Earth!" Raz insisted.
"They want us out of their country. Rather than hunting down any of us, even the Imperials will understand that this is a much easier way to do that, and we would allow them to spare some troops that wouldn't be tied down occupying a region."
"Yes, but…" Claude couldn't hold back from intervening. "if you were to be given a country, it would be on the land of somebody else. After everything you've gone through, will you really go forth and pass your tribulations on somebody else?!"
"What do you even know?" Zig asked with spite. "Your own beloved 'Gods' admitted that the Darcsens have been unjustly displaced ages ago. It's high time that we are allowed to have a real homeland."
"Why not just strive for equality?" Raz asked. "The Western countries are getting better on that front. We don't have to feel different from everyone else."
"The West…if I recall, Gallia treats Darcsens as second-class citizens. The Federation formally doesn't, but it's no secret that our kin there are constantly harassed and never allowed to climb up the social ladder."
That muted the wardens. More than the argument, they were amazed at how such a young man, who most likely came from the streets, already had such a well-built political belief.
"And they might look like they treat you better, but mark my words: the moment their economy goes south, or any other disgrace falls upon them, who do you think they will blame? Their leaders...or the inoffensive and powerless Darcsen? What do you actually hope to do after this war, Raz? No matter where you go, the Europans will treat you like an ignorant grunt to be exploited. The world will never respect us until we get our own State."
"Enough!" Borswood intervened severely. "We're not here to discuss politics. You wanted to talk with the Sergeant, so now talk: what was inside this laboratory?"
Zig calmly turned his gaze toward him. "I don't know. Lord Aduin had promised to show us once we returned back to him, but not even my Captain our my unit's commander know the detail."
Borswood roared, then said "We're done, here."
Raz needed a moment more to stand up and leave. The Colonel had the door closed shut and dismissed the Rangers.
"Are you all right?" Claude asked.
"Yeah, I...I think I need a moment alone."
"Raz, you are not really thinking…"
"Don't get scaredy on me. I'm not deserting or anything. I just...need to think about all this shit."
Claude wasn't very thrilled of leaving his best friend alone like that, but he understood that the situation required that, so he nodded and let him go his own way while he rejoined the Squad and narrated them what had just occurred.
August 22, 1935.
Nobody else came to see him fore the rest of the afternoon, except the guard who brought him some food, so, eventually, Zig fell asleep on the sleeping bag he had been given by the Federals. He had to recognize that, at the very least, they were treating him quite fairly. They even let him have a small table lamp at the corner of the cell.
Despite his nervousness, he managed to fall asleep. Then at one point, he didn't know the hour, he heard the keys jingling and opening the lock outside. He quickly stood up, ready to face whoever was bent on disturbing him with his chin high.
It was a huge surprise when, instead of a Federal soldier or officer, he saw two girls with familiar uniforms.
"Oh, looks like you're fine, after all." Chiara said with her devilish grin.
"What are you two doing here?" Zig asked confused.
"What does it look like?" Nikola said with the same tone of her partner. "We're getting you back to Dahau. He wouldn't have stopped complaining about not having his errand boy around."
Zig sighed. "I'm not even going to entertain your attitude."
"Aw, come on. We're getting your butt out of trouble. The very least you could do is to become our lapdog." Chiara quipped.
"Are we getting out or not?" Zig asked with a pissed whisper.
Nikola sighed. "You boys are so uptight. Come on."
They quickly moved out of the improvised cell. Zig saw that the two had knocked out, but not killed, the guard on the outside. Judging by the excessive darkness, it was clearly late at night, even if the underground corridor had been lit to allow the guard to watch Zig's cell. The young man took the weapon and the ammo from the unconscious guard and the trio started moving.
Knowing how Nikola and Chiara could do, it was no surprise to him that they had managed to sneak around the base undetected. Luckily, Zig had grown up honing his hiding skills in order to survive in the Empire, so for the three of them it was relatively easy to sneak out. For a moment, Zig argued if they should try and blow up a couple of the enemy trucks, and while the commandos certainly appreciated the idea, they eventually decided that it would be best to simply sneak away while the Rangers kept sleeping.
After finding an opportunity, they swished through a hole in the fence and entered the forest. Now that was much darker, but luckily Nikola and Chiara had brought flashlights.
"Here we are." Chiara whispered at one point, shaking the light to reveal a man with four horses waiting in the forest.
"I wasn't expecting to be rescued on horseback." Zig commented a little amused.
"They are much quieter and more reliable on this terrain than any car." the soldier holding them at bay replied proudly.
Zig took a better look and, recognizing the voice, he realized he was talking to a member of Ausbruch. "Sergeant Konrad?" he asked suspicious. "What are you doing, rescuing a filthy Darcsen?" he said, throwing back the insults he had received.
The man grunted, but held back any other rude words. "You guys fought well, yesterday. I figured letting you to rot in a cell would be a waste."
Still unsure whether to believe him, as Zig took one of the mounts replied "Thanks, anyway."
"Come on. Walz told us to be back at camp by 6 hours, or the train will leave without us." Nikola pointed out, and the group directed the horses away from the former laboratory.
August 26, 1935.
Naggiar was full of bad memories for Erwin, and seeing how the landscape had never recovered from the last war made those memories even more vivid, since the trenches were still there and the fields a barren wasteland. The unprecedented use of explosive shells and chemical weapons had changed that region forever. Some experts had figured that nature might have needed at least sixty years to fully recover, and the soil would need more than a century to dispose of the toxic agents.
It seemed like that estimate was about to go much higher, as Gallia was mustering everything it had against Maximillian's army. And worst yet, both sides were going full-in with their Valkyrias.
From his observation spot, Erwin could see Urma training the Gallian ones, but he could clearly feel Aduin himself, Selvaria and others somewhere past the imperial lines. Which, by the way, had been clearly prepared weeks before. He could see at least four different lines of trenches, pillboxes, command posts and mortar emplacements, all ready to either launch a massive attack against the Gallian forces, or wait for them to attack and cause as many casualties as they could.
Erwin was still unsure what move he should make: the Imperials, despite taking more than half of the losses of the whole theater, still outnumbered the Gallians three-to-one. So far, knowledge of the terrain and a correct usage of the many features of Gallia's geography had given the defenders the victory, but Naggiar was a plain field, at most with a few hills. An open confrontation seemed the only possible way to engage battle.
He decided that, for the moment, he had seen enough, and returned to the command tent. The entire staff of Generals of Gallia was gathered there, just to underline how important this confrontation was about to be.
"Gentlemen, four hours have passed...let me hear your opinions." he asked gently.
"I suggest we let them make the first move." General Imbrecht suggested. "They outnumber us. The best way to find a hole in their lines is to have them come at us and sap their strength away."
"Ah, nonsense!" Damon boomed. "We have better tanks, better planes and even those guided bombs. We have all the tools to break their defenses wherever we like. I say we attack!"
"That's folly, Damon!" General Previette objected immediately. "On an open field like this, our men will be mowed down."
"No…" Erwin intervened with a somber and slightly reluctant to admit that. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but for once, Damon makes sense."
That admission sent shocked gazes among the entire General Staff, including Damon, who then replied a bit offended. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"
"It's true that we have several advantages that the Imperials can't counter effectively. If we find some weaker points, we can send our best units and they will most likely breach them with low efforts while the rest of the front is busy. Remember: our real objective is to lure their Valkyrur out in the open." the Marshall explained.
DeWytt, who was there mostly to get a grip of the battle plan before returning back to Randgriz and keep the logistical machine running, hummed and then replied "So you want to throw them into a panic and see if they feel the need to play their trump card early."
"Pretty much."
"But they have at least four lines of defense. I don't think they'll be so hasty to deploy their strongest units if we just breach the first one." someone noted.
"No. But if we break even their second line quickly enough, they might start to consider it."
"That might be true, but I'm afraid of our probable casualties. If we run out of men too quickly, we will lose the battle no matter the outcome."
"Then perhaps I may be of assistance."
After that voice took them by surprise, the officers all turned toward the entrance, right behind Erwin, and they all saw the source of that declaration: Cordelia. Wearing a field medic's uniform
Immediately, they all took off their hats and bowed. "Your Majesty." Erwin greeted despite the surprise. "We...didn't know you would be coming here."
Only at that point, as he rose his head back up, Erwin noticed that Wilbur was also there, right behind the Archduchess.
The Prime Minister smiled at his friend and replied "We figured Her Majesty would be safer this way."
"Your Majesty." DeWytt said concerned. "This place isn't safe for you. Why come here?"
"This battle will decide the future of Gallia and, possibly, the war." the sovereign calmly explained. "I cannot fight on the frontline, but I have the ability to cure wounds quickly, so I cannot simply stand aside while my people bleed on these fields."
"I suggest you gentlemen don't even try to argue. It would be a waste of your time and energies, at best." Wilbur assisted.
The Generals looked at each other with visible apprehension. For sure, nobody was feeling peaceful at the idea of the young Duchess risking her life. But still, Erwin made a step forward and calmly said "Now more than ever, I can see that Gallia has been blessed with a great ruler. You have my unconditional support, Your Majesty, and I'm sure the troops will feel grateful for your presence."
Cordelia made a humble smile and a grateful nod. "Thank you, Marshall Absenkirch. I promise, you will not have to worry about my safety."
"I am sure of that. Then please, allow me to update you on the situation."