Chapter Text
Tanya Degurechaff – Heroine of the Empire
Die Krieggeschichte eines kleinen Mädchens (diesmal wirklich)
Prologue:
Unified year 1923, June – Field Hospital 27 – Norden
Pain... Bright lights... Darkness... pain... pain... pain... Voices barking orders, white silhouettes wildly running around. He felt his body put on an operating table then darkness again...
“Faster, faster we're losing her...”
Darkness, pain, blood, bones peeking trough flesh... Shrapnels deep into a little girl's face and skull, He could feel and see it all from above the tiny broken body...
From above?
That was weird, how could he see his own body Tanya's body from above?
His last coherent thoughts were a simple “Fuck you Being-X... you cheated again...!” then darkness fell for the last time for the salaryman.
Free will and market economy... 0
An irritated and vengeful God... 1
Chapter 1: A new Hope
Darkness, pain, an acrid smell of cordite... The first sensations of a new born bab...
Wait... Cordite...? That's not a normal thing to smell for a new born baby!
I try to move my arms, but it seems I can't... my eyes remains shut but I can feel some cloth over my face preventing my eyelids to open. I hear a bird singing...
Pain again shoots through my entire body, I probably should use an analgesic formula...
Wait... I can do that?
Flashes of memories lost from a previous life, I was or He was a mage... or were we?
He/I we studied in some sort of military school... No, a Military College in the... Germanian Empire.
But He/I was, is, were, a child... WTF...? Do they use children as soldiers down here? Ah shit... of course... He volunteered for this. Seriously that guy had real serious problems with his life goals and expectations.
More memories flash through my mind, his memories, my memories, our memo...?
There is something strange though, I can feel that my mind is clearer, my thoughts are no longer “not mine”, I can think freely about how stupid it is to provoke The Lord and wish for a “nice retirement”... What a moron...! I am so glad he's gone!
My name is Tanya Degurechaff, I am almost ten years old, I am an orphan girl raised by nuns and thanks to a reincarnated moron, I am currently a Mage Officer in the Imperial Army with a Leutnant rank and I actually was caught in a nasty fight when a war broke out...
I have barely survived my first encounter with enemy forces and apparently my life is now my own to live which it previously wasn't – thanks again to an Isekaied over achiever moron...
Well I still have to discover what's left of me after the fight with those Legadonians child abusers. A doctor or a nurse will probably come soon enough, I should probably rest for now.
Chapter 2 : For the Lord is my shepherd...
Being-X The Lord was feeling a bit under the weather, He felt disconcerted, like if something was amiss.
The thought of a certain non believer came to His mind and He suddenly saw a vision of a small body covered in bandages, stitches and plaster lying in a military hospital bed.
“Hum... He seems alive at least” were The Lord's thoughts at the sad vision under his divine gaze.
“So... Are you willing to accept your Lord's commands now...?”
“So... Are you willing to accept your Lord's commands now...?”
The words were ringing loudly inside Tanya's head like she was under heavy artillery shelling...
“WTF... Hey... This is an Hospital zone... No loud noises allowed...! Wait... Is this...
Is this... Are you... The... Lord...? ”
My apologies, My Lord, I did not realized it was You speaking. “what is thy bidding? ... Oh Lord ”
To say that He was surprised would have won the “understatement of the millennium” award, He looked more carefully at the little girl on her bed of suffering. He could only but notice that the unbeliever was no longer there. He could only see a child's pure soul almost free of the body's previous lodger's arrogance and defiance.
(Yes, there were some scraps , remnants, stains of the previous lodger, but they would wash away soon thought The Lord)
“Yes child, I am He, The Lord to whom believers address their prayers and live their lives in respect of His laws for their souls to be saved and welcomed in His kingdom.”
Tanya and The Lord spend some time discussing the situation, which honestly was a mess... The Lord had created a rather cunning plan to “persuade” the non-believer to pray to Him, but through an annoying turn of events He was robbed of his “victory”. (Or His cunning plan had Blackaddered on Him...)
He was also concerned about putting a young and innocent girl through the grinder of what was to come... Since it was preordained He could not simply just change everything after all, could He? (Nah... too much work...)
He finally decides to use the “If it is not broken don't try to fix it” rule and to ask the girl what she would wish for from Him. (Since that move would make the girl in charge of her future – free will and all that...)
Even though she could not see The Lord through her covered eyes, Tanya knew who He was, what He could do, what He could provide her with. She remembered all the stories and lectures given by the sisters at the orphanage, she remembered that if she had had a roof over her head and some food not to starve it was because The Lord and the Empire had provided her with it. (Sort of...)
Even if the choice made by the salaryman to join the Military was not hers (and was totally bonkers...), Tanya felt strongly in her heart that as a Mage, it was her duty to serve and protect the Empire and its citizen, even more so since it was now under attack.
Tanya felt strongly in her heart that as a François WWI fighter pilot has said in the salaryman's world “as long as you haven't given everything, you haven't given anything*”. She then spoke: “Please My Lord, I only ask for the strength and fortitude to defend and protect those who cannot do it for themselves, to be able to bring peace, mercy and salvation to those who are in need, and to carry your sacred words into the lands that are bereft of them.”
Hearing those words from the very body that had defied Him for so long, The Lord could only but smile to the pure and selfless prayer of the bed-ridden child.
The Lord then spoke his words: “Hear Me, my child:”
“You who have suffered the affronts and wounds of battle, you will see your enemies suffer and bleed before you. You whose country is under attack, you will see the aggressors fall under your blade. You who speak the words of the Lord before the world, you will see your enemies bow before His words. You will carry the shield and the blade of The Lord, and the infidels and the Heathens will fall before them. This is the will of The Lord, go forth and be blessed my child!”
“Now rest in the knowledge that The Lord will send you his messenger and bearer of gifts shortly.”
Tanya could simply whisper a simple “Thank you My Lord.” before falling into a deep restorative sleep.
Chapter 3: Fear and loathing in the Personnel Division
Major Erich von Lergen was at it wits end.
The case file he was reviewing was annoyingly irritating for him, in a meritocracy one rewards merits, and the one being reviewed had shown plenty merits indeed!
Sadly for von Lergen's weak stomach, the case file was for a Leutnant Tanya Degurechaff, the one he could have kindly described as a deranged evil psychopath with violent and barely repressed murder tendencies...
The fact that such an individual should have been committed to a lunatic asylum for the criminally insane was balanced by the fact that the same individual had defeated 6 and perhaps 7 enemy mages of a higher caliber while being unarmed herself during the encounter.
She then went so far as to area blast herself with an explosion formula to protect the artillery batteries behind her... and almost dying while doing it.
The total list of the wounds she suffered before reinforcements could arrive was long and extensive enough to warrant the wound badge in silver, at least the iron cross second class, AND the award that was bothering von Lergen so much, the Silver Wings badge. (For her dedication to engage enemy Mages, for becoming an Ace in a Day, and for her almost suicidal act of blowing up her own orb rather than let the enemy advance any further. ...)
Considering that Degurechaff would most probably never go back to serve on the front lines due to the gravity of her wounds and the after-effects of her injuries – Even with magical healing available - she had lost her left eye, left ear and most of this side of her face was looking more like melted wax than the face of a little girl and she had also lost the two last fingers on her left hand, the surgeon could not extract all the tiny shrapnel from her body either.
She could probably walk again, but with a noticeable limp due to the multiple fractures suffered after literally falling down from the sky and crashing on the ground, barely slowed before the final crash by the branches of the pine trees so frequent in Norden.
Needless to say, with a silver wings badge, she would not be simply discharged from the army but used in a rear echelon facility, with his luck she might even get affected to Personnel... No one needs two eyes and all their fingers to do paperwork and administrative duties...
With a heavy sigh, Major von Lergen validated Tanya's award case file demand and sent it on its course to higher authority for further approbation. No matter what, he would do a proper job since he was a proper Officer.
“Please Lord, Please... Don't have her affected to Personnel... I'll light a candle and pray daily to You, My Lord, just don't send her here...!”
Chapter 4: Fly me to the moon... Please don't blow me up on the way...!
Kruskos Army Air Corps testing Lab – (around August 1923 – classified)
Flying...
The ability to move freely in the air, to see the beautiful world created by The Lord from above – a blessing that Tanya was sincerely thankful and grateful for – even more considering that no one was actually trying to kill her while she was enjoying herself.
It had been a few days since she had been discharged from her hospital, a quick and rather discreet ceremony had followed to grant her the awards she deserved. She was particularly proud of the Silver Wings Badge with its blue enamel cross, it was almost a suitable reward for losing half her face, her left eye and some fingers... The Lord giveth...
She still wasn't at ease with her new “face” but the hospital had provided her with a leather custom made “face shield” to “protect her wound” - Of course Tanya knew it was more in order to hide was she had become – You don't really make a good propaganda photo shoot with a disfigured 10 years old Heroine – even with a brand new dress!
Still, since she could walk again, even if it had been quite difficult, she also knew that she was alive – being able to feel pain means that you are not dead yet – and where there is life there is hope!
After the ceremony, a Major from the General Staff gave her the details of her soon to be next assignment, Tanya would become a Mage consultant and flight tester for a secret project in a military facility near Berun, the Major then directed her to a Military Police OberstLeutnant who would drive her to her secret destination. Once arrived she was made to sign a slew of documents regarding secret, confidentiality, safety etc... in triplicate!!!
After the administrative nitty gritty, she was met with a rather peculiar individual who introduced himself as Dr von Schugel, Head of the Facility and Lead engineer for the project. Tanya was soon shown what it was all about – the facility was working on the next generation computational orb for Imperial Mages – a dual core beast – that would revolutionize the field and its applications.
This was why Tanya was currently flying high with a new powerful orb in a shrapnel free sky and a happy heart and a thankful prayer to the Lord for His gifts.
Tanya knew that this orb was not the gift that the Lord had promised her, but she knew it was a step closer to it, she had deduced this from a cryptic comment from Dr von Schugel regarding what her achievements would bring her as reward.
But since this orb had been commissioned by the army to be the new one to be delivered to the troops, she was working hard to make it so as official test pilot. In accord with the usual high quality standards of the Empire the orb was a joy to use. Tanya had already broken most records for any existing orbs whether it was on flight speed, altitude climbing, shield generation, cumulative use of several formulas, the orb delivered what had been demanded and more.
A sour puss could have added that the project had burned several times its budget over... (and cost the lives of several test pilots...) but the results were there! Praise The Lord!
After several series of successful official demonstrations to top brass, Tanya had been highly praised for the results achieved and had also became closer to von Schugel, who finally revealed his hidden secret...
He had been working secretly on an non-sanctioned personal project (that had its part on the spent over-budget for the dual core) a next-next-gen Tri-core orb, sadly he hadn't been able to build a prototype he deemed satisfactory or safe enough to test...
Dr von Schugel kindly added that he also had to wait for a test pilot qualified and trusted enough to do so, which he had now with Tanya.
Watching at the technological wonder Tanya felt her heart beat faster, she could almost hear Heaven's bells ringing, that was it – the boon promised by The lord... Tanya knew exactly what was needed to be done, she took a pencil and started drawing a technical schematic of what was to be done to improve the project, she stopped the barrage of arguments by von Schugel with a strong and convincing: “It is fate, Dr von Schugel, it has to be done this way for this orb to bring forth Our Lord's will – Come on let us pray together for its completion and success.”
Reluctant at first, von Schugel ended up overwhelmed by Tanya's enthusiasm and faith, he was not a religious man but he really wanted to see his project to succeed. So he prayed with Tanya while working on her modified design for the orb. Luckily for them both, the success of the dual core orb meant that most personnel of the lab had been sent on a well earned short vacation and that the lab was free for their secret project.
The final result was... well, to be honest it looked more like an extremely well crafted piece of modern art with magical high-tech added to it, if the dual core looked like a pocket watch, the Tri-core looked like a Triskellion, the cores were not entirely enclosed in the device, and there were oddities here and there... Tanya assured von Schugel that he would witness the reason why soon enough... Of course Tanya had regularly tested the correct circulation of the flow of mana inside the prototype, she knew it would do what it was supposed to... she just kept it secret from Dr von Schugel, he would agree once it would be revealed! Praised be The Lord and his blessings!
After a few days of frenetic work, Tanya knew they had done it, it was ready...
Now was time for Faith to be demonstrated, Tanya took the prototype to the airfield, put it around her neck and with a quick nod to Dr von Schugel she rushed up in the air activating her flight formula, the prototype responding admirably to her use of it. Tanya climbed to 8.000 feet then went to stationary flight, she then opened her heart and soul and started to pray to The Lord to receive his promised blessing.
Tanya would ear both the yelling of Dr von Schugel and the words of The Lord, focusing solely on His Words, she felt the transubstantiation happening, she opened her flight suit and then her uniform tunic to press the prototype against her bare chest's skin and then it happened...
The triskellion orb started to glow, to vibrate, to evolve... at the same type it appeared like it was melting, joining with Tanya's flesh, the only sounds in the sky were Tanya's words of prayer, and then it was done...
The glow had dissipated, the orb had disappeared; Tanya's torso had the slight imprint of the triskellion on it, but it looked more like scarred tissue than anything else. She knew the "scar" would soon disappear. She could sense her body's changes through the received blessing. Even without her left eye present in its socket she could see perfectly like before, she could also ear like before, the pain in her body was gone.
“Bless you my child, receive the promised gift of The Lord.
Go and travel the world, share the Lord's gifts, spread his words, reward the meritorious and punish the unbelievers.
Go and be fearless, for The Lord is your shepherd!”
Such is the will of The Lord!
Chapter 5 : Testing your Religion on the Rhine Front Lines
The François République has launched massive assaults on the western frontier of the Empire in the hope to regain their “lost provinces” while the Empire main armies has their hands tied against the Entente in the North, showing the General Staff that modifying a well oiled plan in order to supposedly gain a definitive advantage and crush an enemy was sheer stupidity...
Of course, the brains of such a failure were sacked, still the problem remained. On the other hand, Tanya and Dr von Schugel have a golden opportunity to play their hand and petition for a field test – officially for the dual-core orb – and unofficially for Tanya to test her new Lord-given gift...
Since the General Staff had already sent every able soul and their daughter to the Rhine front, Tanya's petition is quicklyvalidated and she finds herself flying over the battlefield while Dr von Schugel and a small team with their best toys are posted close to the second lines to record every details of Tanya's tests.
In order to please the higher ups, Tanya spends a few days testing the dual-core orb staying reasonably close to the imperial lines as the orb is still officially a prototype not tested in combat situation (and a State Secret...). She still manages to shoot down a few François mages who stupidly decided to come closer to her position. When von Schugel's team has collected enough data, they decide that the time to test the real thing has now come. Considering that the François troops are well ingrained inside imperial territory, any success against them will be a triumph for the Tri-core orb project (that is still completely illegal... even if it was blessed by The Lord...).
Considering the conventional way the François attack, the best way to get rid of the pests that are their mages is to wait close to one of the imperial artillery spotters and to shoot first... kinda sneaky but hey... they are the ones who started the whole thing... More over Tanya immensely dislikes mages attacking artillery spotters, for pretty logical reasons... you know? If you add the fact that Imperials and François have been hating their own guts since... hum... well, since always apparently, and that François are heathens deserving of the worst pits of Hell, you can understand that Tanya is more than eager to teach them to truly fear The Lord and His Words!
To teach those heathens their lesson, Tanya chose to equip herself with only a 9mm Artillery Luger pistol with six extra mags (she'd tried the trommel magazine but rejected it for being way too bulky) of mana enhanced bullets and a Zweihänder sword, since her body is rather small she had it custom made and it looks closer to a Wakizashi even if it is longer with a 29.5” blade (75 cm) she still has her army bayonet but her small hands are not ideal to manually use it in combat.
The spotter is in place flying relatively low at 400 feet, while Tanya chose to fly at bit ahead of the spotter at 2.000 feet, since she's also trying her new skill of stealth flight (confirmed by the readings of Dr von Schugel's team – that they actually do not have her on their monitor screens) she's quite comfy while waiting for her prey.
Tanya has been thoroughly briefed about the François mages tactics regarding attacking spotters, so she knows the most probable position they will choose, sensing through her mana detection that mages are approaching, she checks the terrain grid to confirm the data, probably two platoons or an augmented one, altitude 800 feet, they'll reach the expected position in 60seconds – show-time!
Tanya unsheathes her sword and infuses it with mana, she strengthen her shields and starts to move into position calculating the vectors of optimal attack approach and speed, Tanya knows that the François favor group fire discipline, so they'll bunch up before attack, that will work perfectly for her, since she fully intends to go through them in a single strike, moving like a shark ready to attack she begins to pray:
“Oh Lord, protect the faithful as they goes into battle, support their arm in the face of your enemies, strengthen their courage in the face of the vileness of your enemies, may their blade be your blade, may their wrath be your wrath, may your enemies fall to the ground and be trampled underfoot as they deserve. Thy will be done!”
Tanya feels invigorated by the words spoken, her speed increases, her targets are now almost in range, she goes into a deep dive in full speed in the calculated angle optimized to allow for a massive first strike, with her shield at full strength and her speed Tanya even thinks that a sword might not even be needed but hey... what's life without a little bit of fun...?
The François are almost perfectly aligned for their attack, Tanya barely has to strengthen her harms to withstand the brunt of the out-going blows that her magically enhanced sword cuts almost perfectly through the necks of the François mages beheading them all in a single pass... Well, so much for group range attack... She didn't even have time to ask if they had a visa... Tanya almost laughs out loud at her joke. Tanya receives confirmation from Dr Schugel that all targets were eliminated – 6 François mages down, not bad for a single attack! Considering that her complete stealth has been confirmed Tanya decides to fly around for a while to see if she could round up her heathens kill count.
Of course killing mages is paramount, but destroying artillery is also important, considering that it could also attract more targets, Tanya begins to snipe at the first line of François artillery batteries with focused explosion formulas from 3.000 feet high, with her small size and stealth formula and since she is not using a rifle, she should be almost invisible, moving after each shot also helps, as it is a bit cloudy today she moves from cloud to cloud to keep cover.
At the end of the day, Tanya goes back to base with a comfortable kill count of 13 mages, 3 artillery batteries, 2 infantry companies HQs and 1 ammunition depot destroyed, which all in all is not too bad if she could say so herself. Time for a hot meal, a hot shower and a nice bed with fresh linens, the heathens will have to wait until tomorrow to reap what they sowed... Considering that she's still a very young child Tanya knows that she needs a good night sleep before her next battle against the evils of the world.
After a fortnight or so of Tanya testing her different skills and formulas, accumulating kills, destroying François military materials, and praising The Lord on the battlefield, Tanya has gained quite a reputation amongst those very few who know of her presence on the stage, and she is occasionally tasked with special field assignments for the Regional Command (in accord with General Staff's prior knowledge of them since she's officially part of the Weapons Development Division and of the Central Army Corps not Regional). Besides those, daily activities become rapidly a routine, morning prayers, breakfast, go kill some heathens, lunch, coffee and chocolate, go kill some more heathens, teatime, destroy some stuff, shower, dinner time, debriefing with Dr von Schugel, getting commendations, prayers, a good night sleep and begin all over again on the next day...
Tanya almost laughs out loud at the sudden though that it is almost like the desk-job routine that that idiot salaryman wanted so much, of course she does not work behind a desk, but since no one can detect her on the battlefield and as such no one shoots at her, the similitude is almost perfect. She even has the global benefit of being able to kill François heathens and to protect the Empire while praising The Lord, which is a total win for her and totally beats doing paperwork... Besides since she's only not even 10 years old to think about retirement is kinda both sadly preposterous and utterly lame... That guy really was a moron, Tanya is so glad he's gone!
Of course at this point Dr von Schugel and Tanya have had to come clean regarding the gift from The Lord and the fact that they are not really testing the combat capacity of the dual-core orb, since the results of Tanya's presence on the Rhine are clearly way above anything else, the General Staff rationally chose not to throw a major tantrum and to throw them to jail (taking into consideration that any public scandal at this stage of the war would have been a real messy mess to deal with...) but made it bluntly clear that any possibilities to actually further test the dual-core orb abilities would be “more than appreciated” to speak plainly...
They were quite happy that the “Gott mit uns” motto was literal in Tanya's case, but having a next-gen orb for the common mage would also be a good thing, since Tanya could not be everywhere at the same time...
Tanya could not entirely disagree with them even if she slightly pouted at first when hearing their comment that they had paid for a dual-core orb for the Mage Corps and so they wanted one tested and delivered!
“Let us put our faith in The Lord”, replied Tanya, “You have asked and so you shall receive! - Delight yourself in The Lord, and He will give you what your heart desires.”
“What if we put you in charge of...” before the General Staff Officer could go any further Tanya cut him short and flatly declared: “Putting me in charge of a platoon or a company of mages equipped with mono-core orbs is like asking a thoroughbred to pull a 30-ton truck stuck in the mud so NO...!”
More over, to use the dual-core you need top level mages and to spend a lot of time training them, not just any grunts taken out of the first trench... It may sound elitist but it is a fact, since I have tested the orb you can trust my words about that.
“The Lord will guide me to those who truly deserve his gifts!”
Chapter 6: One flew over the Rhine Front Lines
Up until two days ago, Kadett Gefreiter Serebryakova was still living in a world she could understand, even if she had been conscripted into the Imperial Army and sent to train as a Mage Kadett, she did not felt like her life was really under threat of imminent death.
Yet, her days in the training facility grounds were now gone, she had been assigned to the front lines in the Rhine district, after a day spent on a military train she knew she had arrived close to her destination by hearing the loud grumble of the artillery getting closer and closer by the minute. Her second hint was the smell, the strange smell of the proximity of the front and its dreaded trenches, a mix of many nasty things that as a young proper maiden she had avoided for most of her life.
The acrid odor of sweat, urine mixed with a smidge of feces powdered with cordite and a large slice of shredded human meat and spiced with some blood... Not quite the smell she would have appreciated in her now previous normal civilized life...
War is Hell... Welcome to War... Welcome to Hell...
Kadett Gefreiter Victoriya Ivanovna Serebryakova could not help herself to let a tear escape from her eye and slide slowly on her cheek, she could feel her heart shrink inside her chest and a muttered prayer came to her lips: “Oh Lord, please make me strong enough not to bring shame upon me and my family and so that I can defend the Empire that sheltered me and my loved ones against those who will destroy it!”
Before she could add anything else she was cut short by an Officer who introduced himself as Oberleutnant Schwarkopf in charge of the 205th Assault Mage Company to her and the two other Kadetten who had traveled with Victoriya. He briskly briefed them that they would be part of his own platoon since the Leutnant who should have led them had been killed with no one to take his place so far. It was irregular but not unheard of since the beginning of the war, attrition rate was rather stiff on the Rhine, so they made due with what they had... Since the two other Kadetten were already a pair, Victoriya would have to fly solo for the time being, when possible she would fly with her platoon leader as his shadow since she was a newbie.
The Leutnant quickly described how routine service would proceed, mostly Imperial Mages stationed here would wait for any François offensive to deploy and crush it after the artillery's response, so mostly it was clean-up duty any newbie idiot could do that did he add smugly...
Victoriya knew she was a newbie, but she wasn't sure about the “idiot” part, the drill Feldwebel had called them many names during training but idiot had rarely been used, before she could reply anything else than “Yes sir” the three of them were shepherded to their dug-outs and given their stand by orders.
Before long she had gotten more or less used to the Rhine routine, of artillery shelling, rush to crush any advancing François, she kept following her Leutnant trying not to get killed which was already quite a feat. Usually there should have been some troop rotation from the first line to the rear, but since mages were so few and in high demand, they almost never left the advanced lines, which meant poor sanitation, cold food, stale water and walking around through a mud mostly made of dirt piss shit and blood.
Victoryia did her best to act like a good soldier of the Empire, even if in her heart she was always the little Russ girl born in snowy Moskva so long ago before the reds came and destroyed all she had known... So every morning after she rose she prayed to The Lord to be strong for the battle to come and every night she prayed to thank Him for her survival, in between, she did her duties the best she could. Not much more could be achieved in the hell of destruction that was the Rhine front. She fought the hardest to keep alive her hope that she would survive and that the home that was the Empire for her would welcome her back after the war's end. (And the Empire's Victory...)
So every day Victoryia wrote home letters filled with more descriptions of the days to come after the war than about the sad realities she faced, she did not wanted her mama and papa to worry too much, she wrote them that she was getting stronger and that they should not worry, that she would make them proud. She thanked her mama for the rosary she gave to her and that she was praying with it every day so they would all be of good health and meet soon again after the war.
Then it finally came... The fateful day... The grimy day Victoryia knew would be her last on this planet.
It all started early on the morning with François artillery, which was not surprising since it was almost a daily occurrence, yet this time it lasted longer than the usual “morning wake up call” - after almost 36 hours of constant shelling she knew it was soon to stop and be replaced by a massive assault – her Oberleutnant had been quite thorough in describing what was about to happen.
Usually the delay before the ground attack would have given the time for reinforcements to be prepared, sadly there were none to come, there were no second line units to come and help them, orders were simple and straightforward: “Hold the line to the last man!” “Repel the assault at all costs!” “Counter-attack as soon as possible!” "There will be no retreat!" "Victory or Walhalla!"
Victoryia prayed with even more heart than usually for she knew she would soon meet The Lord, she put her brave face on and as soon as the order was given and the whistle blown she went over the top following her company to fight the enemies of the Empire.
It was a slaughter..., she could have sworn than even the sky was full of blood, she saw her two fellow Kadetten been blown to bits by a François mage company hidden near a big cloud, she opened fire upon them and tried her best to remain too mobile for them to target her, she almost succeeded, their next attack barely grazing her shields, sadly it was a multi sniping explosion formula shot by an entire company, Victoryia got peppered by so much shrapnel from it that she lost her focus and involuntarily stopped her flight formula, she was not sure if she was wounded and bleeding but she felt her face getting hot and wet and her thoughts were fuzzy while she was falling down from the sky to her certain demise.
Victoryia could see the ground getting closer and closer, she knew that if she couldn't refocus her mana in her orb and fly again that she would die when hitting the ground. But it was like her brain was frozen. She could do nothing but pray to The Lord, thanking him for all He had given her and to give her parents good health and a long life, and to have the mercy to welcome her in His Domain after her death for the young girl she was had never sinned and had always been a devoted believer. “Into your hands, my Lord, I commend my destiny, May Thy will be done!”
Above Victoryia's falling body the sky turned to a hell of loud explosions and screams of pain and despair.
Chapter 7: Welcome to the Meat grinder
It was a total shit show... A complete clusterfuck of epic proportion!
Through the part of the salaryman's memories of his world's WWI offensives she had still inside her mind, Tanya knew that this was not a good day, unless you really wanted to die a gruesome death and have your body scattered to the four corners of the battlefield.
Honor Glory Merit – none existed here today, even if Tanya could agree that seeing heathens getting blown to smithereens was a good thing, seeing so many good imperial soldiers die in the process was not!
Tanya had known that something wicked was up, heavy artillery shelling for extended periods of time was never a good sign for things to come, sadly as the general Staff had wisely stated she could not be everywhere at once... The François had also wisely shelled several different sectors on the front and launched several fake attacks on positions far from their main objective, and so Tanya had been hopping places flying and sniping mages all over the front for the last two days. She even started to get bored of it all, her thin patience having been tested more than once, she was tired, she wanted a hot shower, a hot meal with real meat, and her bed! (and more 9mm ammo for her LP08)
“Nemesis 01 to CP: what's the situation like from your location? Any sign of the main target they go after? I need a break to restock ammunition and food, I am all out! Over”
(Since “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” Tanya decided to use “Nemesis” has her call-sign, she felt it was appropriate for her since she enacted divine retribution.)
“CP to nemesis 01: We not a 100% sure yet but it will most probably be close to grid boxes 48 to 52, you can resupply at the usual coordinates, we'll keep you updated. Over”
“Nemesis 01 to CP: Roger that, on my way. Over and Out!”
While Tanya was having a small break and resupply opportunity, all hell broke loose on the battlefield, along the coordinates given by CP, the François waves of infantry attacks were persistently pursuing their aim of breaking through the Imperial lines at whatever cost it may be... Tens of thousands men from both side (but mostly François) had already died along the front and it wasn't even lunchtime yet...
It was definitely going to be a long bloody and shitty day... Tanya heavily sighed at the depressing thought. Sadly Tanya could only feel that in order to end the senseless killings it required to not to pray for peace and to press it upon those insane Heathens, but that it required more killings in order to silence the fools who'd refuse to bent their knees to The Lord...!
Well... Diplomacy only works so good as far as you're the victor and have the best weapons after all...
“Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.” Douglas MacArthur
Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god. Jean Rostand
Well, Tanya was not about killing all mankind, she has no wish to challenge The Lord, simply killing the enemies of the Empire will have to suffice! Then she shall have peace and a quiet life.
(Tanya will not think about retirement just yet! the salaryman can go fuck off in Hell for all she cares...)
Thinking about that creep of salaryman brings a strange train of thoughts inside Tanya's mind – She knows that she exists, but what was it before when the salaryman was “in control” of the body she inherited? Did “Tanya” had any existence before? Sure, she can access “her memories”, she “remembers” training at the academy, but it sometimes feels like accessing files of a computer that you do not have created yourself – to use an analogy from that moron – you can read them, understand them, but who really created them?
If you had the fact that the salaryman's actions could be compared to the ones of “The Fallen One” that the nuns had taught "Tanya", had Tanya been possessed by him? How much of that insane creep's corruption remained inside of her? Tanya knew The Lord had saved her, but she was still human, and humans have a natural tendency to doubt...
Tanya shivered: “No..! I will not doubt!”
“All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”
Flying over the Hell of the Rhine front lines, Tanya could only remember the saying learned from the nuns at the orphanage, in a sense it brought her comfort and understanding: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Tanya felt better, time to resupply and go on with the day. “May Thy will be done!”
Chapter 8: The Empire strikes back
Somewhere in Berun – General Staff Building
Saying that the General Staff was losing it would have been a major understatement, since the beginning of the François massive artillery preparation Officers had been digging and scrapping every possible resources they could to send it to the Rhine front lines and most of their efforts had been for naught. There were simply no available troops to send, raising new divisions would take too much time, and the logistics would not follow anyway. The best they could muster was to make sure there were enough ammunitions and food for the front, besides that they were in the hands of The Lord as one Officer had stated.
Too many mistakes had been made by their predecessors, too many resources squandered, too many men had already died, the Empire was bleeding away... Little could be done about it, not at their level anyhow, only Supreme Command could try and change the way things were going, and sadly it was doing nothing about them.
The grand Empire had simply no vision, no grand plan, no strategy beyond proclaiming its own supposed greatness and superiority over anybody else... For more than 20 years, the bombastic Kaiser had provoked and insulted almost every other power on the planisphere, there were sadly almost none to be sympathetic to the Empire's plea, and many to enjoy its current worries.
“Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child and thy princes feast in the morning!”
Hans von Zettour was not a religious man, he was a soldier first and foremost and a scholar second, long hours studying the history of wars had told him many important lessons, the most important was that it was impossible to reach a goal when said goal was nondescript.
Twice so far the Empire had been thrown into conflict without seeing it coming or without doing anything to avoid it or even worse by acting in a way to provoke it. “Those whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first deprive of their senses”
“We need to buy some time, Plan 315 has now failed and we need to rethink our tactics, since strategy is not ours to decide... The Army needs to create something new out of what we already have.”
Gal. von Zettour laughed at the joke that was his last thought, but he had in mind the last successful project of the Technical Division, the secret dual-core computational orb for Mages created by Elinium Arms, he also kept in his mind the “side project” von Schugel had almost illegally created but that was so successful in its use on the front.
Leutnant Degurechaff though theorically medically unfit for front line duties had managed to attain quite a remarkable kill score on the Rhine, if the data collected before the war were correct, she single-handedly eliminated at least around a third of the pre-war François mage corps... It was a pity that it should remain a closely guarded secret for the time being. She had also aptly demonstrated that the dual-core orb was a triumph, the only problem was to find apt users for it and to train them... A matter that requested time, and a lot of it...
Gal. von Zettour knew that Operations was not his domain, but Tanya and the team of analysts attached to her were his to command. He should make it clear to her that she could use whatever was necessary to break the François offensive in order to buy some time for the Empire, he'll make it clear that she would be operating under precise orders from the General Staff to alleviate any doubts or hesitations she may have, considering her already impressive achievements he had little doubts she would not fail him. At this point buying some time was the best he could think of...
The Empire was indeed in the hands of The Lord...
May He be merciful.
May Tanya and her “gift” be enough to stop the onslaught of enemy troops.
Chapter 9: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Leutnant Tanya von Degurechaff was drinking a lousy cup of bitter coffee made with lousy beans and poorly brewed, it did nothing to ease her mind, and she was currently thinking that anyone related in any way with such an improper and poor beverage should be put in front of a firing squad and shot for high treason and damage to troop morale!
Even if she knew that her taste for strong black coffee came from “him”, she could not simply dismiss it since it was helpful for her needs. "Das ist krieg..." She muttered annoyed at the thought. While she was not enjoying having her disappointing drink and resupplying on food and ammunition, the Officer acting as liaison with the General Staff approached her with new orders direct from Berun HQ.
Tanya tsked with annoyance, recent orders had a tendency to ask for unreachable objectives, a cursory reading taught Tanya that this one was no different from the others. Tanya was simply put tasked with halting the François offensive all by herself... At least, they had the decency of giving her a wild card regarding the means to attain such objective... How kind of them...
Tanya chose to rapidly put aside any negative thoughts about it all and to focus on how she would succeed in her mission, there was no denying that she would have to rely heavily on The Lord's gift and even to be highly creative with it. Well, let's go and find out new ways to kill even more heathens... This should be fun... But first things first:
“When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the Lord your God and rescued from your enemies.”
Those are the Words of The Lord, and so shall I go to battle against thy enemies, O Lord, I am the shield and the sword, friends I will protect, foes I will slay!
Tanya did a quick check-up of her gear, extra musette bag of 9mm magazines, a few hand grenades, sword, back-up orb, chocolate, water, radio head set, a backup dual-core orb, all clear.
“Nemesis 01 to CP: any update on the François offensive main focus?”
“CP to Nemesis 01: Main François offensive confirmed – boxes 48 to 52 on the grid, at least 6 Mages Battalions sighted, our lines are holding but it won't last long – Imperial Mage Forces are down to 65% - May The Lord be with you!”
Tanya knew it was already the case, she nonetheless thanked the operator and quickly jumped towards the sky and her cruising altitude to reach the front, it would only take her a few minutes to reach it, and then she fully intended to have a turkey shoot on those pesky François mages... Time to be creative.
The current data collected indicated an all out offensive upon an approximate 15 miles wide front with a total force of around 15 to 20 infantry divisions – so far 6 mages Battalions had been sighted, considering the odds, Tanya soon realized that conventional tactics would do shit here... She needed to bring out the “big guns”, she hadn't considered using her Tri-core orb to its full potential, the risk of collateral damages having been high, yet under the current circumstances, she barely had a chance without some extra “kick”, she wondered how much she could overcharge her 9mm rounds before they simply exploded to her face...?
Tanya's priorities were clear: Get rid of as many François Mages as possible without being detected – Destroy as many François first line artillery batteries as possible along the entire front to prevent them to shell the imperial counter attack – Assisting in moping up the remaining François infantry with the remaining imperial mages.
Easy peasy... Lemon squeazy...
You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, whom you have defied.
If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and He will deliver us from your hands.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.
Leutnant Tanya Degurechaff left the resupply post, quickly rose to 2.000 feet and flew toward the mana signature of the main group of François mages, even with her tri-core orb she could barely distinguish the different Mages of each units, they were too close from each others. Which really really really was a good thing for Leutnant Degurechaff's plan to kill as much of them heathens as she could!
Chapter 10: Im Westen etwas Neues
Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars... (and in her hands an Artillery Luger LP08 loaded with hi-ex mana ammo...)
Cruising at attack speed Tanya was close to reaching her chosen shooting range distance, the sky was filled with so many François mages that she joked to herself that it was impossible for her to miss even if she only used her missing left eye to aim at them...
Guide me, O thou great Redeemer, pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak, but thou art mighty, hold me with thy powerful hand: bread of heaven, feed me now and evermore.
Tanya opened fire at the multitude facing her... and the sky turned to a hell of loud explosions and screams of pain and despair.
While shooting at the François hordes and shredding their ranks, Tanya saw a small silhouette falling down to the ground, a prayer in her heart, blood over her face creating like a halo she could not do but looking at...
“And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.”
Tanya changed her flight course to try and catch the falling body before she hit the ground, her Tri-core orb almost at full power with the multi spells used to maintain her stealth, shield and speed.
“For day after day they seek Me and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not forsake the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God."
Gefreiter Serebryakova could not really see what was happening, her vision was blurred by her own blood, she could feel that she was no longer falling... she was... flying?
“Still alive, soldier?” asked a tiny girlish voice with a stern tone emanating from a scary leather mask covered face.
“Yes... I guess...?” answered a dazed Victoriya.
Tanya took a quick look at the girl in her arms, she did not appear to have grave wounds, just a few small cuts, she simply looked a little shell shocked. Her orb was fried though.
“What happened to your orb soldier?”
“Hum... I only remember that I needed a stronger shield then nothing else...” answered the girl “Kadett Gefreiter Serebryakova ready to report Ma'am...” she added...
Tanya managed to hide her amused reaction “ at least you have gumption Gefreiter Serebryakova... Report can wait, you need some first aid...”
“Nemesis 01 to CP – Coming back with a wounded, have some ammo ready and food to take out... oh... and an extra rifle too... Over”
“CP to Nemesis 01 – Roger that - over”