by Carlo Zen
“Ohhh? If it’s wine I’m depriving you of, I’m sure it’ll be delicious.”
Zettour rose to the challenge with a shrug. “You can count on it.” As the one in charge of mobilizing matériel, he strove to be impartial, but for a victory of this level, he felt an offer of wine was permissible.
“Colonel Uger, sorry to make more work for you, but send over a dozen or so bottles later.”
“Understood.”
Lieutenant Colonel Uger, who took on the task with a reassuring attitude, was not only a rear-area specialist, he was also a bit of a wine connoisseur. Surely he would select the right bottles.
He could be entrusted the task of choosing bottles for a gift of wine, where one combination could change the meaning entirely! A thoughtful fellow like that who was also an outstanding soldier was a precious asset to the Service Corps.
It came down to trust. When considering an individual who had racked up achievements to be trustworthy, it was only natural to think of that person as a rare commodity.
“…Proper reasoning…” Zettour cracked a wry smile. That’s me, all right. Was it a bad habit to always be thinking about the correct procedure and structure? When it came to a single gift, it was difficult to deny.
Either way… He shook his head.
It was possible to minimize the error in their calculations. Inferences, predictions, and then action—that was Zettour’s duty. In that case, knowing what to consider in this war situation was fairly simple.
First, the Imperial Army was currently dividing and encircling the Federation forces. After splitting them into thirds, it was strengthening the encirclement and then finishing the process with annihilation.
Even a gamble could become a new page in history if you pulled it off.
Future students at the officer academy would end up with more material to study. But what a pleasant feeling that is.
That said, nothing means anything until it’s firmly in hand, Zettour reflected and shook his head. We probably can’t let our guard down yet. It would be especially problematic if the enemy decided to try to force their way through the encirclement and find a way out.
“…But if enemy command is operational, then yeah…” By the time he murmured that, he had come up with a new plan. Their victory was already fairly certain, but…it would be an even surer thing if they made one more move.
“All right, let’s crush them.”
The Imperial Army had been making frequent use of decapitation tactics in this war. A direct attack on enemy headquarters would render their chain of command definitively helpless at a decisive moment.
Sending an aerial mage battalion in on a direct operation against enemy headquarters had been effective on the Rhine, in Dacia, on the southern continent, and even on the eastern front.
Basically, it was an optimal solution.
It may have been a high-risk operation that required air superiority, a minimum of support, and well-trained aerial magic officers and veterans, but when the conditions lined up, its impact was unrivaled.
“Colonel Uger, allow me to ask one more thing of you.”
“Yes, sir, anything you need.”
“Contact the Salamander—errr, the Lergen Kampfgruppe. Have them check if it’s possible to attack enemy HQ directly.”
“Are you sure? I don’t know if we should go over regional command’s head…” Uger pointed out the need for consideration with a frown. But the polite, proper process of getting permission from the regional army headquarters would be overly cautious. The balance between decisive and prudent action is always difficult for an officer. He and Rudersdorf both seemed liable to gaze blankly off into the distance, but Zettour smiled wanly.
“Colonel Uger. You’re an excellent officer, but you don’t know much about how field officers feel, do you?”
“Huh?”
“On the front lines, what is useful is just. I’m sure that as long as Colonel von Degurechaff is after her prey like a hunting dog, the eastern army group won’t have a problem.”
Uger blinked as understanding began to come over him. This sort of flexibility was rare in a staffer. I’ll make a note on his performance evaluation later.
“I’ll sound out Operations. Let’s get to work.”
MAY 8, UNIFIED YEAR 1927, EASTERN FRONT, SALAMANDER KAMPFGRUPPE COMMAND POST
“General von Zettour really runs his people into the ground… I can’t believe he’s asking us to strike enemy HQ directly.”
“Isn’t that always what happens? Well…and officially, this is a message for the Lergen Kampfgruppe.”
“Yep, it was.” That was the show put on for outsiders. Tanya smiles at her adjutant. Though form is a pain in the ass, it must be upheld as necessary procedure.
“I’d really like to answer No can do in Colonel von Lergen’s name. Should I just think of him as below me and have him wear the mud?”
Tanya is half-serious.
That said, she doesn’t have time or energy for disguises, and disguises are against the rules. If she’s trying to follow the rules in good faith, then she isn’t permitted such neglect of her duties.
I guess I have no choice… She shakes her head and then opens her mouth with resignation. “…I guess I’m tired enough to talk about things that are impossible. War follows such an erratic schedule—it’s no good.”
“I agree, ma’am. But what should we do?”
“The enemy is as fit as ever. We succeeded in surrounding them, but that doesn’t mean their stockpiles have run out. I’d like to take my time, but the General Staff prefers a quick surgical procedure.”
An encircled enemy is a cornered rat. Tanya, who would like to win with the least effort possible, has no enthusiasm for a plan that involves charging into the desperate Federation forces and getting bit. And there probably aren’t any more supplies coming.
“It makes me miss the additional acceleration apparatus.”
“Right. If we had those, this would be a lot easier.” But as soon as she replies, she’s so shocked, it’s as if she’d been struck by a bolt from the blue.
Thinking calmly, she decides it’s clear that something is off. Can I really be missing one of that engineer Schugel’s inventions?
Sheesh, war is really doing a number on me.
Even if you report in that you can’t accept the risk of losses and express your reluctance, any army has a clear hierarchy—no one is permitted to refuse a valid order.
Our target is a group of positions that appears to be Federation Army HQ. It’s within a short plane ride from the river crossing we took, and the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion has been given strict orders from the top: They expect an attack.
If told to go, I go.
With no time to even lament how pitiful she is, not being allowed to say no, Tanya is stuck taking her battalion on an operation to strike enemy command.
As expected, perhaps it should be said… Despite the fact that the Federation Army’s defenses were supposedly thrown up in a few days, their main position is just as well defended as any on the Rhine.
“The resistance is tough! Shit, is this a bear in the hole castle?”
The enemy’s fire density, scale, and, above all, desperation are enough to make even the elite 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion wary.
“Enemy mages are on their way up!”
“Direct support for HQ?! They could have just left it wide open for us!”
Tongue-click-inducingly enough, they’ve got reserves waiting for us. They’re making the right use of troops according to the theory. It’s so correct, it makes me sick. If this was a sporting event, I’d probably praise their wisdom and wish them a good game, but in wartime, rivals are to be killed or avoided.
Thinking to take advantage of the altitude difference to smash them with an attack, Tanya manifests a formula. When she casts it at the mages coming up to intercept them, she immediately realizes it didn’t work.
“These are the new models!”
Sh
e doesn’t even need Major Weiss’s shrieked warning. Only Federation mages with defensive shells via the new model would be able to keep flying no problem after taking explosion formulas from Tanya and her troops.
“So we can’t pierce their defensive shells from a distance?! Fuck!”
Using an optical sniping formula with the penetration jacked all the way up will give her a chance. But it’s not like we can leisurely fight it out in the sky over enemy territory. Then, just as she’s getting irritated about her plans being ruined, something happens.
A first lieutenant rushes ahead, leading his company in a charge.
“Company, follow me! Close-quarters combat should be effective against these guys!”
Grantz, all vim and vigor, makes a bold decision. Tanya wonders if she should stop him but decides that she should honor her subordinates’ self-starting attitudes whenever possible.
“Major Weiss, back him up!”
“Are you sure?! We’ll stick out!”
She understands her vice commander’s implication—that making an overt move here is dangerous—but they’ve already proven in battle that the new models are weaker at close quarters. Tanya begins to think that rather than clinging to the comfort of fighting at a distance, which would needlessly consume both time and energy, charging in is the right idea.
“That fool Grantz is right this time! Support him in the sky!”
Having Weiss handle an escape route and support is precaution enough. With someone at her back, she can advance and mop up.
“Lieutenant, our company’s going after Grantz! Charge that echelon!” Tanya waves her arm—signaling “Let’s go!”—and is leading the way when she gasps in shock. Suddenly, Federation anti-air positions begin to open up.
Being shot at by the enemy is fine. I mean, that’s war. But this is…
Tanya’s eyes nearly pop out of her head.
They’re going to send a hail of flak up into an area where their own mages are flying?!
“They’re not even going to try to distinguish between friend and foe?! These assholes,” she spits and immediately begins giving new instructions. As long as it’s zone fire, which isn’t likely to score any critical hits, all they can do is up their defenses.
“Don’t rely on optical deception! Put that energy into your defensive shell! Then pull back for now!”
They abort their strike and turn around. If they had fallen into disarray and gotten separated, her subordinates would have ended up flaming dragonflies. No, even just being too slow would have been bad. If the Imperial Army’s computation orbs didn’t excel at the mobility and climbing necessary to ascend to greater altitudes, things surely would have turned out poorly.
“They’re really putting up a fight… Shit, I never thought we’d fail during a charge.”
It’s a different era from when we hardly broke a sweat scattering the Principality of Dacia’s ranks of infantry. A desperation that says We won’t let you come anywhere near us has condensed into thick defensive fusillade coming from the anti-air-guns and MG positions.
Of course, it’s possible to hit them with formulas from a long-long distance…but it’s undeniable that accuracy and power would be awfully low compared to a closer range. And if we merely pump more mana in to make up for that discrepancy, our fatigue will jump to multiple times’ normal. War just isn’t simple.
“What a hassle that enemy mages have blocked our charge.”
Hard defensive shells, fire that doesn’t connect. And when you take the fight into close quarters, they respond with the tactics of dodging like crazy and devoting themselves to defense. So basically, they fill the tank role. I never dreamed I’d be in a war fighting to the death against tanks.
As Tanya is about to fret about what to do, she recalls how important it is to be practical. Getting rid of the tanks will be difficult. In that case, we’ll just leave them alone.
“I’d like to torture them to death, but their backup is in the way. Ignore the enemy mages for now.”
“What?”
In response to her adjutant’s stunned murmur, Tanya grins ferociously. “Let’s break through the mages. We’ll attack the enemy surface position directly.”
“We could end up being vertically pincered! Please reconsider.”
“Don’t worry,” Tanya says boldly in reply to her adjutant’s quivering expression. “You know how well those mages can aim. Any numbskull gets hit, it’s their own fault. And if they shoot, their misses will rain down below and make less work for us! All right.” Tanya raises her voice. “01 to all units. 01 to all units. Ignore the Federation mage unit! I say again, ignore the Federation mage unit! Stick to checking fire as we pass by and concentrate on getting through!”
There’s no reason to smash into a fortress like diligent idiots. The tanks are tough but have limited firing capabilities, so we’ll just go around them.
But since there’s no art to a mere detour, we’ll try for the delightful feat of getting the cross-fire lines to overlap so the enemy winds up taking themselves out.
“Let’s go, troops! Follow me!”
We get into three strike formations. The way everyone charges at once with a shout of “Let’s get ’em!” probably seems as reckless as a bunch of stampeding boars.
The enemy mages bunch together to try to intercept, and that’s the moment their luck runs out. We manifest enough explosion formulas to count as harassment and then launch them to act as a smoke screen. By the time the enemy mages realize, it’s too late.
The flight is so smooth, the word gliding seems natural. The 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion’s charge is successful. They slip between the Federation mages and the ground positions and are lucky enough to continue their descent.
“God is with us! Troops, let’s teach these atheists a thing or two about reality!”
The only disappointing factor is that she is compelled, out of consideration for her safety and results, to boot up the Elinium Type 95. Even if its influence isn’t immediate, there’s nothing to guarantee there won’t be any at all, which is irritating.
“I sympathize with our enemy, that they aren’t able to cling to God, even in times like these. No, perhaps they’ve been spurned and only deny God’s existence out of brokenheartedness.”
“…Whoa, whoa, Major. I’m not a fan of that sort of chatter.”
“Huh?”
“It’s my personal view, but I’m giving you a warning. Take war seriously.”
“Do excuse me.”
Tanya nods that it’s fine, and the unit continues along its strike path. In response, the panicked enemy decides to carry out their prescribed defense plan.
…But that is the worst-possible reaction to an unexpected action.
The Federation surface positions stick to their zone fire. As a result… Tanya sneers with overt glee.
“Ha-ha-ha! This is wonderful! Federation troops are killing one another with stray shots!”
The attacks from the ground run into the altitude the Federation mage unit is flying at, whereas the dive-bombing 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion doesn’t get so much as grazed.
Exposed to the dense anti-air fire, the Federation mages can’t shift from defense to attack even if they want to. Taking advantage of that opening, it’s a simple task to hurl explosion formulas at the anti-air cannon positions.
“Manifest formulas! Hit ’em!”
The explosions cast from so close burst. When you don’t even need to seal them in a magic bullet for delivery, the casting speed, area covered, and power are on a whole other level. Mage-covering fire, which can be triggered with perfect timing that even grenades can’t match, is the pinnacle of violence in an extreme situation.
“Enemy positions have gone quiet!”
Nodding at her adjutant’s report, Tanya raises her voice. “We’re going to have guests after us! Let’s withdraw a bit!”
“…Tag?”
Tanya smiles at Serebryakov, impressed with her intuition. “Why not?
Let’s play with them.”
The Federation mages with the new computation-orb model have only tough defense. Without interference from any other units, it’ll be no problem to slaughter them. If they leave their base to give chase, they’ll be done for.
Of course, luring the enemy out is a classic move. So naturally the question comes up whether it’s really so clever to stage a fake withdrawal. Commanders from every era and nation have mustered every bit of their cunning in order to make the enemy pursue, but…I suppose we just got lucky?
She’s not sure how to take it, but basically they didn’t have to do anything. Glancing back to see the enemy giving chase with reckless enthusiasm, it’s almost disappointing that her worries were for nothing.
Or did they conveniently misunderstand Tanya and her unit turning around as “fleeing” from them? A party’s tank has no business making follow-up attacks, but apparently, the Federation mages don’t have enough experience to know what happens when you carelessly follow an enemy.
The moment the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion takes the only roughly aimed fire, they pretend to scatter but immediately round about for an assault.
The Federation soldiers thought they were chasing fleeing enemies, so when the situation suddenly changes, precious seconds go by in their hesitation and confusion, and the elites of the Reich close in and attack.
On this point, I have to admit that the Federation soldiers were brave to stand their ground.
They have fought more daringly than Tanya can comprehend. Sadly, strength doesn’t come in proportion to will. With the exception of their durable defensive shells, she’s hard-pressed to say they’ll have much trouble taking care of them.
After a few minutes of mixing it up in the sky, the only ones left in the airspace are the tenacious members of the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion.
“We’ve eliminated all the enemy aerial mages, right? Major Weiss, report in on our losses!”
“A few were caught up in an explosion formula. All companies are still combat able, but we have eight injured. The most badly injured is a numbskull who got shot in the ass. As long as he’s not sitting in a chair, he’ll be fine.”