Chapter Text
Notice of reassignment.
2nd Lieutenant Tanya Degurechaff, as per the previous letter you received along with the Silver Wings Assault Badge, it is my duty to inform you that you have been assigned to the research group known as Division 13, who are tasked with magical research, for further orders you are to present yourself to the following address in Berun: [rest of the letter illegible due to burns and soot]
Excerpt from a letter found partially burnt in a fireplace, date and location of writing and reception unknown .
*-_
Norden, 3-miles south of the former DMZ, the Empire - 21st of June 1923.
I was dancing with happiness, for all of the foul machinations Being X could conjure, he wasn't able to keep me on the front lines, I had snagged a job on the middle of the Empire, away from any enemy incursions, starvation and shitty living conditions where I wouldn't be able to leave unless it was in a coffin.
I danced and laughed and frolicked for the better part of an hour before sitting down and writing a letter to confirm that I'd received my orders.
I was on the first train back to Berun, as soon as I had said my goodbyes though, being given the chance to leave at the first chance I got was no justification to be impolite, especially to the people who recommended you for the Silver Wings.
The trip took me from the dense forests of the northern reaches of Norden to the fields and cities of the center of the Empire, where I was given a parade alongside several other soldiers whose actions proved to be heroic enough to get them medals.
Then, I had to leave for research division 13 as soon as I could, the facility that housed the Division was located in a quaint forest in the Ungarn region of the Empire, the facility hidden from view from the air thanks to the thick foliage of the surrounding forest.
As soon as I arrived I saw how rundown the facility was, broken windows, damaged walls, plants growing everywhere , there weren't even any guards for goodness sake.
All this made my inner HR manager cringe internally(and my body as Tanya externally), but there was opportunity here, if I could whip this place into proper shape I could probably make myself so invaluable that they wouldn't take me to the front lines, and plus, if(or when, if my knowledge of the first and second world wars applied here) the Unified States invaded the Empire it would work very hard to snap up as many scientists and useful personnel as it could, and I certainly planned to get closer to the part of the country where the Americans would be invading in that case.
When I finally entered the building I had a beaming smile on my face, startling the scientists in there from my sudden appearance.
"Good evening, Gentlemen." I made a small curtsy, and then a salute. I didn't know which one was the appropriate one for this situation, they continued to stare at me, unsettled, I gave them my widest and most comforting smile, one a mother would give a child. "I am lieutenant Tanya Degurechaff, and I hope we can do a good job for the Empire."
*-_
Degurechaff is a beast, she might look like an adorable little girl, but she's not, her eyes are as cold as the winters in the Alps, her words and actions might be shaded very thinly in a layer of comradery and military authority, but she's very much someone who will find a reason to execute you should you be wasting her time.
We're so lucky that she's loyal to the Empire.
She's too smart for her own good, as shown when the previous division director was taken to a military tribunal after Degurechaff "discovered activities in the ledgers that indicated corruption" in her own words, the incident was swept under the rug, I don't know what happened to the last director, and honestly, I seriously don't want to find out where they buried him.
Degurechaff is the new director now, and she's been making radical changes to the way we operate, and has opened up new projects, including one that she calls the "mechanical computing project" to make many more spell formulas.
She's way too eager to test the tiny weapons of war we've made here, who knows what plans she has for us and those little orbs.
I pray that they don't discover my little business that I had with the previous director.
Excerpt from a diary of a member of Division 13, part of the newly christened hardware enhancement department, dated to September 30th 1923.
*-_
Imperial Army Depot, near the Rhine, October 2nd 1923.
Visha stood in a room from her garrison, she'd been waiting for 5 minutes for her charge and squad leader, one Tanya Degurechaff, AKA: Argent Silver.
She was nervous, being only a conscript meant that she was basically disposable to most officers, after all, she hoped that the Argent wasn't one of those commanders.
She was thankful that mage conscripts were slightly more valuable to the military.
Still, she was meeting with one of the Empire's heroes, one that bore a very rare medal and was becoming deeply respected in the military and civilian circles, though she didn't know how she looked, in fact she didn't know Argent was a girl until her commanding officer told her.
The doors to the room slammed open and she stood at attention, nervousness making her feel a pit in her stomach.
She looked at her flight commander, the newly arrived Argent, and she couldn't believe what she was seeing for a moment.
The Argent Silver stood on the doorway accompanied by a cadre of scientists in pristine white coats, she was clad in armor, but not one she could recognize from those at the collection of the tsar's palace from her brief time in Russy's aristocratic circles.
It was an armor that was gray like the uniforms that aerial mages were using currently, with the only splashes of other color on it being the computation orbs that were located at multiple points, its shoulder armor had fins and from under the shoulders she could see a cluster of tiny tubes, the armor looked layered in a way that wouldn't hinder the agility of the Argent to move, the aforementioned orb were located on the greaves, the shoulders, one on the chest, and one on the neck where she could see the Argent's flight suit poking out, the joints were armored only by a strange and seemingly flexible fabric that she didn't recognize.
The Argent herself was small, she would barely got past Visha's waist in height and probably weighed as much as the armor she wore, she was also pretty, now, Visha was an aristocrat(or rather, the daughter of one) in the Russy empire and she was taught how to tell the difference between artificially enhanced beauty and natural beauty, and the Argent was most certainly the latter, her blonde hair though unmaintained and uncared for was as pretty as one of a noblewoman who cared for hers for all her life, her face, pale like death held a refined beauty that couldn't be reached by a normal person, and her eyes were a deep cold blue that could have frozen a citizen of Russy with a mere glance, and with her confident, certain, and authoritative stride she was the picture perfect image of a commander.
But the first thought that graced Visha's head was "vampire" for that was how she looked, like a vampire from the middle ages brought to modern times and told to fight in a war.
"Good morning, rookies!" Her harsh voice is in sharp contrast to her princess-like appearance.
"GOOD MORNING, LIEUTENANT DEGURECHAFF!" Visha and the other recruits saluted in spite of the leader's appearance.
They began presenting themselves after that.
The lieutenant smiled at her after she presented herself, gave her a tap on the arm, which hurt a little due to the armored knuckles while saying she was thankful for Visha doing her duty, and told the rest of the enlisted men to "not die after Corporal Serebryakov".
"Now that you've met each other, Lieutenant Degurechaff here will be in command of your flight, make sure she gets back in one piece! As her equipment is worth far more than you make in a year! Am I understood?!" Lieutenant Schwarzkopf belted at them.
"Yes, sir!" They answered with a salute.
"Now, Lieutenant Degurechaff, get ready for deployment, we'll be on standby." Lieutenant Schwarzkopf left then.
"You heard the man, get your equipment!" The Argent belted and everyone sprung into motion.
In less than five minutes they were standing at the front of their base of operations, in less time they were told they were going to go to the Rhine front walking.
And on they went, in a day's walk, to the trenches, it was horrible, everything stunk, blood, mud and other unknown liquids stuck to you, and artillery, thers and ours, pounded day and night, all the while they killed any and all infiltrators to their trenches.
At some point two of her squadmates were reassigned condemned to death by lieutenant Degurechaff, into an observation pillbox, they were (posthumously) promoted.
For one long month Visha endured this, and that one month passed in a blur of violence and thundering sounds.
By the time she emerged from the trenches she was covered in blood and gore from a dozen Republican soldiers that tried and failed to assault their trenches, at least there was some respite from the trenches in their recall to rearm and rest.
At least that was what Visha thought, when the alarm sounded as she was cleaning up, and lieutenant Degurechaff simply went to sleep with her armor on after maintenance checks on it, an alarm was called by Lieutenant Schwarzkopf.
They quickly assembled, and were told a rookie mage wing was caught by infiltrators of the Named Killer squadron, and while lieutenant Degurechaff tried to separate their flight due to Visha's exhaustion, she told the armored girl that she was going with her, whether the lieutenant liked it or not, and after such a situation was done, their flight took off.
Visha hoped to arrive in time to save the mage spotter.
*-_
Skies over the Rhine front, the Empire, November 5th 1923.
This is just great! I sarcastically thought
A rookie mage wing got caught by a bunch of infiltrators from the filthy frogs!
I knew that last thought was a little bit irrational of me, but I had every right to hate those filthy warmongers. We could have had a horrible, yet short war against the Legadonians, but they couldn't keep to themselves, could they?
And I wouldn't be here testing equipment for Division 13, but as it was we needed actual proof our designs actually work for the government to actually fund the division.
So, here I am, clad in armor thick enough to put a light tank to shame, and holding a rifle that to anyone else from my world would look familiar but radically different from the rifle that they knew, with it looking like a combination between a early automatic rifle and an M16 though lacking a lot of features of the former.
Still, it wasn't so bad, after this stint in the front I could go back and enjoy a stay at the Division headquarters, a higher budget for those mad scientists, getting my ace-of-aces rank due to the many kills I'd gotten over the last month (though I could already have the required amount of kills, I haven't been keeping track due to the amounts of fighting we've done), and finally, actual leadership for the division in the form of a promotion to the rank of captain after a stay in the war college, I was lucky that one of the officers in charge had noticed my ability to turn Division 13 into something actually resembling a research lab.
All-in-all, everything was lining up just the way I wanted it, just a couple more days and this would be over.
If I could survive this encounter with the so-called "Named Killer squadron", that is.
I smiled under the fully enclosed helmet, this was going to be a cakewalk with the superior technology that I bore.
We flew for about twenty minutes before we felt the magical signatures of the enemy mages, there were four of us, and according to the intel, two squadrons of them including the Named Killer squadron, if the magical signature reading spell that was on the orbounted on the helmet I wore was communicating me the correct information.
"You three take the support squadron, I'll take the hunters, good luck!" With their basic technology I'll easily destroy those mages
"Yes, ma'am." My meatsh- wingmen responded.
She's such a brave person, taking on such dangerous targets for us! The meatshields thought, while their leader accelerated past them, unaware of their thoughts about her heroism.
A lone mage is easily ignored and with the absorber orbs unless they were looking quite close to background mana emissions they wouldn't spot me, and plus my compatriots' orbs are probably lighting up their sensor spells like crazy, too I smiled, I was safe, I would get not only my bonus, but I would also get a lot of time away from the front lines, this is great!
I flew in close to the first mage, firing a burst from my rifle, his shield collapsing by the second shot and his body turning to gore on the third, a smoking ruin that used to be called a human fell to the Rhine below.
I immediately snapped two more bursts into the shocked Francois, clipping two of them and killing a third one, were these really the Named Killer squadron that everyone feared so much?
Smiling to myself I spun up a detection spell to keep track of the scattering enemy squadron, the orb on the forehead of my helmet vibrating ever so slightly as I did, the spell projected itself before my eyes as a glowing green fractal.
Golden dots spread out over the fractal, flicking the firing selector switch to full auto I let out a good chunk of my magazine, they were all enchanted bullets, the storm of tracking bullets shredding three more of the mages.
They were so slow, this is what the Empire's Named mages were dying against?
Then a sudden thought struck me and I turned to look at the falling corpses.
They were falling painfully slowly, the smoke from the explosions billowing even more so.
How is this happening? I wondered in my head, running the formula for the enhanced reactions spell, then I remembered that we had swapped out the old enhanced reactions spell and introduced the one from project Taschenrechner that the team had discovered among the lines of code the machine spat out near constantly.
It isn't a reaction enhancement spell, it was a time dilation spell!
I began to smile, this was huge! The sheer amount of possibilities this unlocked was astounding, whereas before nearly all the spells had a base upon the laws of physics and limited themselves to the human body, the fact this spell seemed to be affecting physical reality was groundbreaking.
I broke myself out of my musings as soon as I saw a Francois mage charging at me with a lit mageblade extending from his hand.
He was moving so painfully slowly I could have probably have taken his wallet while I killed him, but I decided to try something else rather than just shooting him.
I flew up in an instant, the movement straining my body as it was subjected to g forces no one should be subjected to.
I flew up in less than a second, the 10000 mark going past me in a blink, the improved oxygenation spell holding up fine alongside the pressurization formula.
I turned around and downwards on my center of gravity, gathering magic at the palm of my hand, simultaneously running one of the newer formulas, one I hadn't had the chance to test.
Not that one could use a spell such as this often.
The energy gathered in my hand, magic flowing through my orb to my veins to the palm of my hand, heat, beyond any that a simple explosive spell could generate, my enemies were busy trying to reach me, screaming something in Francois that I didn't understand, I enjoyed the panicked way they tried to stop me, the fools, if they wanted to live, they shouldn't have joined the army, the Republic didn't have a draft like the Empire did on its mages.
The small red-white ball of pure magic finished forming in my hand, I aimed it at them, they froze.
And I released it.
The little ball accelerated faster than a speeding bullet, detonating and spreading molecules of magic all over the area, and then the little particles detonated, washing the area with fire, the melted armor and burnt bodies falling down to the Rhine below, the rising smoke marking the few more graves among the thousands buried by the unrelenting bombardment of the artillery pieces below.
The blowing of the wind was interrupted by the overpressure of the explosion, the cloud of smoke expanding and flowing through the air like a storm cloud.
I turned to look at my flight, smiling in spite of the carnage wrought by the spell, this had just brought me over the 50 kills necessary for the ace of aces status, so I could allow myself this bit of unrepressed mirth.
I watched them finishing up with the shocked Francois squadron who looked panicked and disorganized.
"Command, do we have permission to leave?" I asked, I wanted to leave now that we were done here, and I had a lot of sleep to catch up with.
"Y-yes, Pilot 9, c-clear skies a-all around, you've been authorized to leave." A nervous wreck of an air control operator, goodness gracious, was the Empire full of such nervous wrecks? Division 13's researchers were bad enough.
"Understood, alright, Let's RTB!" I sent the members of my flight a voice spell, and they assembled on me.
We flew off to rest, arriving late at night at camp. Visha and I washed and went to sleep, I wrote a letter recommending her for officer training alongside my field report before doing so. In the morning I wrote the after action report for the Division 13 researchers.
A week later I received my transfer papers, Visha received hers too at my personal recommendation, she was honestly a very nice person and would be very valuable for the Empire in the future, and plus, she wasn't a threat to me, not while I had that little deal with those parties concerned with the continued productivity of Division 13.
My stay at the War College would be great, easy and lazy days, good food, tolerable coffee, and combined with my knowledge of future warfare it would be easy! or at least easier than normal. A more rational and aged voice said from inside my head
I smiled to myself all the way to the train. Good life, here I come!
*-_
To: Brigadier General Hans von Zettour.
From: Tanya von Degurechaff.
Date: September 1 1924.
Subject: Expansion of projects.
General as discussed with you after the Elenium Arms Disaster, Division 13 has begun to integrate Elenium Arms personnel, funding and research into our operations.
Project Taschenrechner has begun its expansion and projects Stahlfaust , Feuer , and Offenbarung have begun construction on their respective production facilities, while the more regular facilities have begun steady production on nearly all necessary items for the continuation of operations, however, bringing in materials has proven difficult as local rail lines are not up to the standards of the rest of the Empire.
However, I must inform you, sir, that for the project I proposed to you during my the final days of my stay at the War College(project Auge) Division 13 will require further expansion, specifically to a plot of land that's near the border with Dacia to prevent further espionage attempts such as the one discovered last year, attached to this letter will be documents about the plot of land and the necessary amounts of materiel and personnel required to construct this facility in a reasonable timeframe…
Excerpt from a letter destined to Imperial Central Army HQ, magicscan taken by agent 501, scan dated to September 5 1924.
*-_
General Ciobanu, the time has come, our preparations are complete and the men(as you've surely noticed) have been mobilized and armed, get your troops on the move and reclaim the glory of our country that the foul Empire took away all those years ago.
Good luck and Godspeed, Grand Duke Ferdinand the I of Dacia.
*-_
Division 13 headquarters, Ungarn region, the Empire, September 24 1924.
The alarms rang and people moved about the facility, steering clear of my path as I reached a briefing room.
In there I found several mages waiting for me, all of them, like me, clad in the "advanced" armor of project Feuer, the F-2 armor, a little more advanced than the F-1 prototype that I'd tested and used over the Rhine, the orbs on the neck and forehead had been replaced with dual-core orbs salvaged from Elenium Arms, the absorber orbs on the shoulders and chest were improved to function much more reliably, and a fifth orb was added to the back, which was a very big orb that would enhance the effects of other spell formulas by acting as a focusing system for mana and an extra storage for more formulas, the armor was also less stamped sheet metal that had been manually hammered into shape and more armor cast and stamped at a factory.
"Major, all members of the defense force are present!" Snapped one Captain Weiss, a handsome black-haired black eyed man, the other two captains, Köning and Neumann, a thin and tall man and a big and muscular man respectively, too saluted not a moment later.
I looked at them for a moment, and said: "Good evening, gentlemen, it seems that despite all of our effort, idiots keep popping up no matter what." I took a pointer and a projector lit up as I did.
"This." I slapped the pointer against the map the projector was showing. "Is the Grand Duchy of Dacia, a minor nation, and one that appears to be run by suicidal maniacs, as of thirty minutes ago, reports reached us that the Dacian army has just invaded the Empire with an estimated half a million men.
I paused dramatically, letting the number settle.
"Our duty, according to high command, is to take part of our security forces and delay the Dacians, we'll be heading towards the tip of the spear of the Dacian army." The map being shown changed, now showing the current movement (as of the making of the map). "This is their main offensive, our border security forces have chosen to do a fighting retreat, we must buy them time, that is all I have time to say to you, get your equipment and be ready to deploy in ten minutes, dismissed!" I snapped, they flung themselves into motion, my adjutant, Visha, joining me by my side as I rushed to the armory.
She, too, was clad in the durable and reliable F-2 armor, the large computation orb at her back glowing against the artificial lightning of the facility, the fins of the shoulders of her armor humming ever so slightly as cooling liquid passed through them, the giant orb on her back had these cooling fins on it as it required an integrated cooling system.
She armed herself with the SG-1, AKA: the Silbergewehr named after me despite my continued protests and pointing out that I had merely designed the rifle but not actually brought it to life, also, the design was blatantly stolen off the M16, but it lacks several features that the real M16 had, such as the forward assist, the divided upper and lower receiver, etc. It was much more simple, with a straight blowback system and a charging handle where the ejection port was, though it was much more expensive than the standard issue semi-automatic rifle that was issued to the army mages but it was much more reliable and less prone to jamming, and I had ensured all my mages had received training with it during their "enhanced training program" that I had devised.
She also grabbed a MP-1923, a small, pistol-shaped submachine gun that used 5.4mm munitions which I had based on the 5.7 round of the P90 on my world, though this round and weapon didn't resemble the one that the round was based on, with it being a collection of tubes stamped together in an hour by three guys in a factory.
I chose a similar load out, I checked her armor and ammunition straps where she stored her mags and she repeated the process with mine, after ensuring that everything was secured properly we raced to the open forest of Division 13's courtyard, we were joined by the rest of the security forces on the way out, I spotted the tail end of the convoy that would meet the Dacian army's ground forces, they were members of our more "squishy"(as some of our mages put it) troops, they were transported in trucks to their field of battle, their trucks also carried tanks, they weren't the riveted, heavy, and slow tanks one would expect of this day and age, they were tanks from project Stahlfaust, tanks that were based on my knowledge of modern MBTs and were based on the Abrams in terms of design, though they lacked many of their features, such as thermals and a jet engine and spaced armor and basically everything that made the Abrams great, but made up for it by being quite reliable, easy to maintain, and essentially being an M4 Sherman with the frame of an interwar tank that had been sent to be scrapped that we had salvaged and repurposed with a C-class mage powering the thing using a spell to run the "engine" and another C-class mage using tracking and night vision spell formulas to spot their enemies and guiding the gunner.
They were heading out into battle, and so were we.
We flew instantly up to 10000 feet, in a second the facility we called home was, for all its seeming immensity when on the ground, it turned into a dot off in the distance.
Supporting flight and oxygenation spells at this altitude was nothing to our dual-core orbs and combined with the tight pressure suit that we equipped ourselves with we didn't have any problems.
Our flight route took us through the edges of the Empire's lands, fields full of crops passing us by as we flew.
It was midday when we made first contact with the Dacians.
They were organized in such tight infantry squares and dressed in such bright colors that it would have been hard not to spot them.
I looked out for possible air support, reporting our position while doing so.
Noticing that the Dacians had none I decided to get a closer look with my rifle's scope. It was a sniper's scope that I enhanced with an optics spell to properly look at my enemies, and when I saw what they were using I grew furious.
Muskets and fucking colonial equipment, they were using equipment from the fucking Napoleonic wars!
How could the fucking Empire's border guards, which were armed with modern(by the standards of the Empire, not mine) equipment not defeat these fucking idiots?! They had artillery for the love of all that was good in the world, a single machine gun position could wipe the floor with them!
I calmed myself, I was being irrational, and I was letting my anger get the better of me.
… then I gave the situation a thought, I could use this, members of the Imperial army running away from a vastly inferior army could be what I needed to prove that the Empire didn't need the superior numbers of their conscript forces to destroy a numerically superior army, they just needed superior technology.
I smiled a most wicked smile, this would serve me well, and plus, I could be called the hero that saved the Empire from the Dacian hordes, and if there was one thing I learned from MacArthur and Rommel it was that aiming propaganda around yourself would not only make you famous and beloved, it made you untouchable by the court systems.
I shot a voice spell to my wingmen, Visha and Weiss to form up into an attack position, who relayed it to the rest of the group, I then addressed them all. "Alright, everyone, this is the moment I've been training you for, this'll be the" - easiest slaughter - "most important battle in our newly started war against the Dacian aggressors, if we win, we'll have them on the backfoot. Now, prepare your first volley!" I called out, bringing my rifle to bear, specifically against a lieutenant who was wearing a very pretty cuirass while riding on a finely bred horse.
But first I cast a voice spell, and fired it off in all directions, unencrypted, ensuring that any dumbass with half a brain and a computation orb in a one hundred mile radius would pick it up, such as reporters, and the message being fired off was: "Attention, Dacian invaders, this is Major Tanya von Degurechaff of the Imperial Army, you're ordered to stop your invasion our Empire and to surrender immediately to our armed forces, you have five minutes to relay your decision or we will open fire!"
This is such an easy propaganda victory for me! I struggled to maintain my neutral look and not start laughing at the sheer stupidity of the Dacians.
She's such a patriot, struggling not to fall to anger against the foul Dacians! The members of the Division 13 security mage wing(Visha and maybe a few others) thought simultaneously.
I knew they didn't have any orbs, otherwise they would at least be using their mages as spotters or to guide their troops as seen in the Preussy-Frank war, but the message wasn't for them, it was for any orb user in the area to hear, and know it was Major von Degurechaff who stopped the Dacians
Once the five minutes had passed and the Dacians weren't showing any signs of stopping, in fact they didn't seem to have noticed the flying mages at all.
"Fire!" I screamed the command at the top of my lungs, the first volley tearing into the thousands of men in the formations below, I unloaded my rifle by firing full auto, the large rifle being a bit problematic for me to handle due to its length, but it's ergonomic design helped mitigate the problems a childish body such as mine would have when wielding such a weapon.
We fired until the last remaining remnants of the remnants were fleeing in a panicked rout. "Captain Weiss, give chase to the elements of the Dacians that are in a rout, fire until you empty your mags!"
He nodded at me while saluting.
"The rest of you! Bomb those that are brave enough to stay and fight!" I called out, my voice lilting and almost childish from the excitement of the fight, a wild and feral smile gracing my face.
"Yes, ma'am!" From Neumann followed by an: "Understood, will do." From Köning was all that was necessary to tell me they were going to do their duties.
Then I saw Weiss do the most stupid thing I think I've ever seen in my military career.
He flew down , denying himself the advantage his orb gave him and he began flying in a straight line.
I wanted to reprimand him, but the sheer shock of such actions had left me at a loss for words.
And then one of the braver(or dumber) Dacians who hadn't yet left their cannon behind took a shot at Weiss and the shot went past Weiss's squadron missing them by a whole 100 feet, to which they spread out in a manner that I found most familiar…
It was the standard anti-air evasive maneuvers, the ones they teach basic training . I had taught him better than that, and I had just finished training him, and I was gonna give him a piece of my mind.
"Visha." I managed to grind out, anger clear in my voice.
The ever proactive girl reloaded her rifle, freezing up when she heard my voice. We were standing motionless in the sky, and no one was near us, so I spoke her nickname rather than the more professional Lieutenant Serebryakov that I called her when around other people.
"Y-yes, Major?"
"Follow me." The harsh tone in which I'd said that command left no room for objection.
We flew down, shooting a couple of Dacians that had managed to group up in more than a dozen people to try to shoot them.
"Captain Weiss!" The sound of my voice freezed every member of Weiss's squadron in place. "Might you kindly explain to me what the fuck you were doing?"
He stood stock still and thought for a moment, I raised an impatient eyebrow while waiting as he formulated a response. "Ma'am, I was just following Imperial protocol for a bombardment run!"
"You were following protocol?" I ground out.
"Y-yes, Major!"
"Protocol which, mind you, was written in the past century, when mages were just being introduced."
"Yes, Major."
I took a deep breath. "Captain, if you wouldn't mind me asking a question, are you stupid?"
"Ma'am?"
"Stupid, idiot, dumb, lack significant knowledge on how the world works, were you dropped on your head when you were a baby and lack critical thinking skills?"
"No, ma'am."
"Then explain to me why you would deny yourself the biggest advantage you have by flying into enemy AA range? For I cannot think a normal human being would do something so profoundly unreasonable."
"Ma'am, it's according to the manual of Imperial mage battle conduct that-"
"And you believe that tactics taught in a manual would actually work in the real world, in a world where warfare changes by the second?"
"No, ma'am."
"Then why are you using them?"
"I- I don't know, ma'am."
"Well then, why don't you gather your men, go there," I pointed towards the still running Dacians. "And go figure out why you're such a dumbass."
"Yes, ma'am!" He somehow managed to make a full salute in the middle of the air.
After a few more minutes of "fighting" (more of a slaughter if I do say so myself), I decided to let our security forces and whatever soldiers the southern army could bring in a reasonable timeframe.
Boy, I'm so lucky that the treaty of Worms has no section on "the unfair use of technology", otherwise I'm pretty sure this would be a war crime.
"Alright, lieutenant, let's go find their command post." I signaled for everyone to gather up, noticing that our trucks were arriving by now.
"How are we supposed to do that, ma'am." Visha looked at me like I'd grown a second head, the dumbfounded look being clear despite the fact, and under normal circumstances going off to hunt the enemy's high command would be a fool's errand.
"Ah, yes, not many people know this, but in Napoleonic armies, such as the one we are facing right now, the generals were much more likely to be serving near the front, we just need to find a camp near here." I used my optics enhancement formula and looked around with my rifle until I found what I was looking for.
"There." I pointed out and my soldiers followed my outstretched finger.
It was but a small dot in the distance, but it was clear as day that the Dacians were clearly organizing themselves around it.
"Men, would you all kindly remind me what does the Empire do when someone crosses their borders?" I asked in a lilting tone.
They chuckled at this, but one answered. "We kindly ask for their visas."
"And if they don't have any?" I let the question hang.
"Well, we kindly shove them back to their country, ma'am!" All of my soldiers repeated at me.
I smiled ferally again. "Well then, let's go ask for their visas then!" I motioned for them to follow, bunch of war maniacs, but they were nice enough and followed orders to a T, in spite of Weiss's spectacular show of what not to do in a combat situation where you have a tremendous advantage over your enemy.
We flew into the enemy's camp the shocked faces of the Dacians were almost enough to make up for the fact that I was back at the front lines, almost.
These idiots piss me off.
"Good evening, might I see your visas!" I said in a voice that would remind a father of their child asking for sweets, I then pulled my helmet off, maybe showing them my face would be enough to mollify them from the slaughtering of their troops, then they began screaming about… something, I don't know what, I didn't speak Dacian, and… oh, they were firing at us, oh, well. "Alright, let's deport these guys, kill everyone but the general, I want a gift for Imperial Intelligence."
"YES, MA'AM!" My meatshields responded, my grin growing wider as a result, they were so eager to obey.
How could I follow this up? The road to the Dacian homeland was open, like a gate left unbarred, I pondered for a few minutes, a thoughtful look came to my face, and then I smiled, I knew what to do.
"Lieutenant Serebryakov."
"Yes, ma'am?" She looked at me expectantly
"Call high command and ask them for permission to invade the Dacian homeland."
"I'm sorry ma'am?" She looked puzzled
Why is she puzzled, we're just asking for permission for a night rai- oh, yeah, it's not the 1940s yet.
"You are confused." I stated finally.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Well, we're going to do a raid on their weapons manufacturing facilities."
"No, it's not about that, ma'am."
Now it was my turn to be puzzled. "Then what is it?"
"Why are we going there?"
Ahh, that. "Because we've just destroyed the Dacian army, Lieutenant Serebryakov."
"That was their whole army?!" She exclaimed, shocked at the thought of normal(by mage standards) humans destroying an entire army in less than an hour.
And to be honest the numbers of deaths were still baffling to me, my killcount had probably just reached the 5 digits by now.
"Yes, and now, we go to their capital." I said pulling out a map. "Now relay the message, oh and inform them that the Southeastern Army ran from a bunch of Napoleonic cosplayers."
"Cosplayers, Ma'am?"
Shit . "People who play dress-up about characters from a book or play or certain historical figures, it's a shortening of costume play." Nice save Tanya. I mentally congratulated myself.
What a weird but strangely fitting word . Visha relayed the message. "Where did you learn it, ma'am?" She asked me such an innocent-sounding question, but to me explaining it would probably mean being thought of as crazy.
I wracked my head for a moment before realizing something. "I made it up." I mumbled, the nervousness making my face reddish.
Ah, she was embarrassed to admit that, so cute. "It's a very nice word, ma'am." Visha nodded at me.
"Thanks." Bullet dodged, Degurechaff, great job! I could somehow picture my previous body of the salaryman giving me a thumbs up with his ever-serious face showing no emotions. Okay, maybe I am going crazy.
"Let's resupply and eat something, we have a long flight ahead of us! Oh, and tie up that piggy!" My mages looked at the quaking general with feral smiles.
We left him in his tent to be captured by the ground forces, I had tied him in an ebi shibari, leaving my soldiers puzzled as to where I'd learned such torturous methods of tying people, I didn't want to admit that I'd learned how to do it in my past life, even if they knew I had one, so I just said I read it in an Akitsushiman book after a few hours of incessant questions.
I could have ordered them to shut up, but that would mean they'd speculate behind my back.
We rapidly approached the capital as the sun fell behind us, leaving behind darkness, the light of our orbs the only thing that indicated our presence and in a star-ridden sky, those little lights were one amongst many.
*-_
Captain Weiss knew his commander was a good person, she was a patriot, a leader, someone the average citizen of the Empire should strive to be.
But she was also the scariest person he'd known in his life, she'd put them through hell and back, then torturing them until she'd deemed them "fit for service". He still had the whip scars from that. But he was thankful that he didn't get Serebryakov's treatment, apparently the Major had tortured her without laying a finger on her first before putting her through the normal wringer.
Still, she'd worked hard to keep them on this side of the grave if Serebryakov's story was to be believed.
But right now, he was wondering if the goodness of her heart extended only to her fellow Imperials.
They were facing a factory, or rather hovering over it, the lack of light from the waning moon hiding the shapes of the 36 mages, the guards and workers of the city working hard into the night to supply soldiers that were no longer on this side of the grave.
It was kinda sad, honestly.
"Should we attack, ma'am?" He cautiously asked.
"No, captain Weiss, it's a breach of international law to attack a facility before warning them." The little war machine that was his commander told him, her helmet strapped at her hip.
"But wouldn't that give away our advantage?" Neumann asked
"You're right, but it'd be a war crime to not warn them, and besides, does it look like they have any AA systems on site?" She dismissively waved their concerns off.
"No, ma'am, but I don't trust that building over there." Köning pointed at a suspicious small building that looked out of the way enough to hide a pair of AA guns.
"You're right, Captain Köning." The tiny officer scratched her chin, before snapping her fingers.
"Lieutenant, radio, please." She extended a tiny hand.
A Lieutenant whose name Weiss didn't know gave her the handset.
They all saw the Major take a deep breath, and waited.
And then she began speaking in the sweetest voice he'd heard her speak in. "Instructor! We swear we will conduct a fair war, in accordance with international law! We warn you now! The Imperial army is about to launch an attack on your military facility!"
He stared in shocked silence at the Major, no, everyone else did as well!
They were all staring, and Lieutenant Serebryakov was the first one to talk. "Major, that's wonderful! They seem to think it's a kid's prank!" Weiss didn't notice the withering stare the tiny Major gave Serebryakov.
"Major, did you take theater classes!? That was amazing!" And now he did notice it.
Everyone carefully backed off of the angry major.
"Alright, ready a volley, a single shot is enough for this waste of space!" They formed in a neat line, 36 soldiers floating above an unsuspecting city.
Normally, even the might of such powerful opponents like mages would struggle to destroy a facility this size, but the new explosion formula that had bed developed a few months ago would ensure that that wouldn't be necessary, as a researcher had put it: "the old spell is like someone grabbed a 125mm artillery shell and filled it with gunpowder, this new spell is like you grabbed a 380mm shell and filled it with TNT, you get a similar result with both, but you'll waste a lot more energy with the first."
"Fire!" She called out, and 36 "shells" bombarded the factory.
"Alright, let's go home." The Major turned to leav
"Wait, Major!" One of Köning's lieutenants called out.
"Yes, Lieutenant Strauß?"
"Ma'am, I know how we can help the Empire win this war far more easily!" Lieutenant Strauß was a big man, not in the way that Neumann was, but he was still quite big and he towered over the diminutive major.
"Speak, then." She impatiently said.
"Ma'am, that house there." He pointed at what looked like a royal palace. "Is the residence of the Grand Duke, my family came to visit a few years back and we were told that the Duke rules like an absolute monarch and still lives in that palace."
Everyone immediately knew what that meant and turned to look at a pondering Major.
"You can't be thinking about it, major!" Weiss looked appalled at the major as she opened her eyes.
"As long as we don't kidnap his wife or children to force a peace treaty it's not a breach of international law." She delivered her answer.
"Alright, let's go abduct a duke!" Neumann said, enthusiastically loading a new round onto his magazine.
All the while Degurechaff internally panicked. Wait, they actually want to abduct the Duke?! I was joking! But wait, it isn't a war crime, and it would ingratiate you with high command and have you written down in the annals of history as the person who ended the Dacian conflict! She smiled which they interpreted as not only permission, but eagerness to do this, but Tanya was only smiling due to the fact that a rear line job would be assured. "Let's do this, men!"
She's such a proactive leader/they're such warmaniacs! they flew away to the palace thinking that the other was crazy.
Visha meanwhile, was thinking about what foods a Duke would have in his pantry, and how soft his bed would be, she really wanted to go to sleep.
*-_
Duke Ferdinand the I of Dacia woke up to explosions rocking his city, he immediately got up and saw his newly made weapons manufacturing plant go up in flames, he'd been worried about something like this when it was being built so close to Ilfov, and a munitions explosion right now was disastrous.
Normally, that would be the case, but his "friends" in the Allied Kingdom had assured him the aid would flow, and that the Empire was too weakened to make an offensive into Dacia.
His phone rang, he rarely got a call on this one, and due to how uncommon phones were this meant an emergency, he could already guess what it was.
"What is it?" He asked, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice.
"Duke Ferdinand, this is Mr. John! You must leave your palace immediately! There are mages coming for you!" The man on the other side of the call sounded panicked.
… That was bad, scratch that, that was a goddamn disaster! "Understood." Was all he said before snapping into action.
"What was it?" Marie asked, his wife getting into a nightgown.
"Grab our luggage, we need to leave."
"What."
"The Imperials just launched an attack on Ilfov, we need to leave."
"I'll go get the childr-"
"No, I'll get them, call the guards and have them help you get the luggage to the car, now go!"
She pulled on a bellpull and the sound of bells rang through the palace. As he moved towards his children's bedrooms the guards asked him what was wrong, he told them to go get his wife.
He was halfway through the palace when the main doors were blasted through, a tiny person walking in followed by 35 other people, they were all clad in armor, one of a design he didn't recognize.
"Ah, look at that, we found the Duke!" The tiny woman strode in like she owned the place, and getting a good look at her he could say she wouldn't look out of place in the halls of any royal palace in Europa.
She was blonde and blue eyed, and short, and it was clear that she didn't take care of her hair beyond shampoo and the occasional brushing.
He finally found his voice. "Who might you be, who is invading my palace?"
"Ah, I apologize for the rude intrusion, my name is Tanya von Degurechaff, and I'm a major in the Empire's military and director of the Division 13 research corps, and I'm also the person who's going to take you captive."
He stood in shocked silence, this diminutive girl a major in the Empire? The world has gone insane, he has gone insane.
"Well, then? That's your cue, morons." She motioned with her head.
"Sorry, we were enraptured by the theatrics, Major." A large bear of a man approached him
"Sorry, Mr. Duke, but I must tie you up." The large man grabbed a length of rope from his belt.
"Don't apologize, Neumann, he declared war on us." Another man called out.
He tried to resist but got punched in the face, as he fell to the floor he wondered where everything went wrong.
*-_
"Whooo, let's go!" Weiss celebrated, spraying everyone with champagne grabbed from the pantry of the Duke, while normally I would discourage such foolish behavior it was not all days you got to hand a country its worst military defeat, go on the world's first nighttime raid, do the world's first strategic bombing mission, invade the enemy capital while doing so, and you capture their head of state.
So, yes, I believe we were allowed to celebrate a little, drinking a little, but keeping the best tor when we got back home.
I personally was enjoying a very nice cup of coffee Visha made.
"Major, come on, have one glass." She pushed a flute of champagne against my shoulder.
"I can't, lieutenant, I'm not yet of age-"
"Major, if you would pardon my language, you do realize that the thing about the legal drinking age is bullshit, right?" Köning asked.
"What? It is?" I wondered where this conversation was heading, pointedly ignoring his cursing.
"Yes, ma'am, I think I can speak for everyone here when I say that everyone here has gotten drunk before they were fifteen." Neumann pointed out, taking a small, gentle sip of his champagne, he got nods from the twenty-four people who were busy raiding the pantry.
Was this a tradition in the Empire? Like those hidden traditions of working unpaid overtime and having to go out drinking with your boss? Well, I wasn't one to break tradition back then, so why should I do so now? Plus, that champagne looked quite appetizing, I finished my delicious coffee and grabbed the offered flute.
I took a small swig, and immediately came to appreciate the misused funds that had gone into buying this champagne, it was by far one of the best things I'd drank in my life, scratch that, in both lives, sweet, but not too sweet, with a little acidity to give it a nice aftertaste, all in all, a great finisher for a very productive day of work and a permanent position in Division 13.
I drank it like it was water, thanking that this body apparently had a relatively high tolerance for alcohol.
"So, when are we heading back to Division 13, ma'am?" Someone asked.
"Well, the original plan was for the Division 13 security forces to arrive in the morning tomorrow but they've been delayed by someone from high command choosing to accompany them, they don't know who." I shrugged. "And sincerely, all of that smells like the spooks from Imperial Intelligence trying and failing to hide it's someone very important."
They laughed, but I hadn't said anything funny.
"Anyways, we should get those reinforcements soon, tomorrow at noon at best, in a day or two at worst." I got up, brushing off the dirt that I'd probably sat on
They nodded, but they knew that that meant possibly fighting against the local populus.
"I'll go to bed and will take the second watch, lieutenant Serebryakov, captain Köning, you'll go on the second watch with me, goodnight everyone."
Visha, grabbed a lot of food, offering me what looked like a sandwich, I too grabbed some stuff: a wheel of what looked like a very fine cheese on the way out, alongside a very fine vintage whiskey which I would save in my personal pantry until the time came to celebrate my 16th birthday (meaning Visha would let me drink to my heart's content), and a couple smoked sausages, I wasn't one to waste food, and I might be a picky eater, but that was only because food in the Empire sucked most of the time.
Our bedroom was the guest bedroom on the second floor.
The night passed rapidly, I had Visha help me with untangling my hair in the morning, we were meeting up with someone important, after all.
We were waiting in the throne room, the duke was tied up in a more normal tie and his family had decided to stay with him.
"Ma'am, permission to speak?" Neumann asked, a dangerous glint in his eyes.
"What is it, Neumann?" I looked at him askance.
"We are in the throne room for the entire Duchy, right?"
"Yes?" Where is he going with this? Wait, is he going to suggest that we should "take souvenirs"?
"Well, ma'am, could we take photos of us sitting on the throne?" He looked at me with puppy eyes.
Ah. "Really, is that all you want? I thought you were going to suggest that we loot the place." I internally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh, no, we would never do that, it's against international law." He shook his head negatively. Yeah, like that would stop you, you war maniacs!
"Alright everyone, form up, the major allowed us photos!"
Everyone looked excited for this, is this really that big of a deal?
Then I remembered, palaces at this point in time are generally kept for matters of government and housing the royal families of Europa.
I felt Visha tug on my arm. "Come on Major, let's take a photo!" she was pointing to the throne, which my subordinates had left suspiciously unoccupied.
I sighed. Of course they planned this.
I couldn't say no to Visha's expert puppy dog eyes. Damn it, fine.
I rolled my eyes, and sat on the throne, they all cheered, I tried to sit as a king would, but I had no experience with it, so I just sat cross-legged while Neumann took a magiscan with his orb, it was honestly not too bad.
Still, we spent the rest of the day waiting and eating, the local populus was too busy containing the fires from the munitions factory to bother to come check on the king- sorry, "Grand Duke".
The sun was setting when the first trucks of the convoy arrived, each of which carried 50 soldiers of the Division security forces, then the tanks arrived and began dismounting from their trucks, the large tanks spooking the citizens of the Duchy, who probably hadn't seen a car in their lives.
Then more and more trucks arrived, and following them were the first trucks from the Imperial army, and between them a car, black and featureless.
"Köning, you got binoculars?" I asked the thin man, I of course had my own, but I didn't want to waste time getting them out of the pack on the small of my back, and Köning already had his on his belt, ready for easy access.
He offered them, I took them and looked at the black car through them.
I stared for a second at the passenger, then I rubbed my eyes, slapped my face a little and looked again.
That was Colonel von Lergen.
So he's the one we must hand off the Duke to, but what was he doing here, though I was happy to see the person that had given me this job, I'd assumed he was at Berun last I saw him.
The car was growing closer, so I handed Köning his binoculars back.
"Bring the Duke out." I told Köning, and began walking towards where I expected the car to pull over.
The car stopped, and the man inside stepped out began making his way towards me.
As Colonel von Lergen approached I saluted. "Good evening, sir! I hope you had a great trip through Dacia!" I smiled at them in a very child-like manner, which my researchers had told me was very good at calming others down. Sometimes I love having this cursed body.
Tanya did not notice the profound looks of unease gracing the faces of everyone around there as she smiled.