Plus Ultra

by Carlo Zen

  “Roger. Don’t want to underestimate an injured beast. Do you have more information about them? Whatever you know is fine. Got anything?”

  Anyhow, the future is the future. Today is today’s mission. And it was going to be more intense than the usual missions. Everyone realized for the first time how worrisome the situation was.

  And we were shocked. Unlike when we repel exhausted enemy mages, this time it was possible we’d be up against a force that had been able to conserve their energy to a relative degree. The irritating veil of night made the situation we were facing even more difficult.

  Since our anti–air gunners were relying on optical instruments, we would have to worry about friendly fire, too. Considering how confusing it could be to tell friend from foe, it wasn’t unthinkable.

  “Due to the awful jamming, we haven’t managed to identify them, but our superior says they seem like elites. There’s also the rumors of a large-scale imperial offensive. Stay on your guard!”

  “I appreciate the advice. Troops, game faces on and let’s go!”

  Our commander’s encouraging voice tells us to prepare for the challenge. The determination and spirit we could hear indicated the appropriate amount of nervousness for a vigilant warrior.

  But that’s only in hindsight.

  They were wrong. We didn’t need game faces. What we needed was to be crazy enough about death to find a way to live through it.

  “All hands, this is your battalion commander. We’ve located the enemy. Prepare to engage.”

  Both sides’ fields of vision were narrower due to the dark, which gave us trouble.

  We discovered each other nearly simultaneously. The battalion commanders engaged at about the same time, too. It was simple. Republican mage doctrine is to work as a group and overwhelm the individual strength of imperial mages using organized combat and disciplined fire.

  It was basically an unexpected encounter battle in an area approached by the enemy. Plus, the powerful jamming caused by high mana density.

  Even a conservative estimate would say this battle would be something we’re not used to. And our opponents were a unit composed of veteran mages with a wealth of experience and a talent for close-quarters fighting.

  There was no way a normal unit could take the brunt of this assault honed in Dacia and Norden.

  If the vanguard had held out just a little longer, maybe the rear guard could have gotten away. Or if there had been just a few more mages in the rear guard, the unexpected shots could have stopped the enemy’s approach so the vanguard could get away.

  But everything fell just a bit short. The results were disastrous. The shock caused confusion. A storm of formula bullets from a submachine gun heightened it.

  Things deteriorated—we’d been had, and there was no way to stop the blood or the damage.

  The explosion formula, loosed by the imperial mage commander at the helm, opened a huge hole in the vanguard. At the same time the breach appeared, multiple optical shot formulas were aimed to crush commanders of each company, and just like that, the Republican command chain’s head was lopped off.

  But Republican troops could still, if only barely, resist in an organized way. The rear guard began using suppressive fire; they knew they had to cover the gap in the vanguard.

  For a short time, the rear guard managed to cover for the vanguard to plug up that hole. They had enough energy to attempt to reorganize their force. Their vigorous resistance succeeded in keeping the attack at bay, but as a result, they couldn’t give the vanguard covering fire. They used their full strength preventing the enemy approach, but then had no energy left to protect the vanguard.

  When furious resistance interrupted the imperial charge, the mages suddenly switched targets to the isolated Republicans out front.

  It was around two companies of imperial mages versus the two companies of the Republican vanguard. But the latter had been completely stripped of its leadership, so it didn’t even have support; in that cut-off state, the Republican mages were isolated sitting ducks.

  As a result, the numerical balance between the two sides flipped. The rear guard had its hands full defending itself when the vanguard’s fate was decided with a swift incision. Normally, the imperial mages were prevented from approaching by the Republican Army’s obnoxious disciplined fire. Meanwhile, after their supporting volley, the Republicans would be able to stop the remnants of the enemy from breaking through. This time, when the two sides met, however, the imperial mages got to release their pent-up anger and cut the Republicans down.

  “Attention, Fairy Battalion. Engage in pursuit.”

  The rest happened too easily. By the time the rear guard suddenly tried to retreat after losing its shield, it was too late.

  The Republicans didn’t have enough distance or speed to shake off the imperial mages, who had accelerated for the attack.

  Their race to escape the theater wasn’t to be. Ultimately, the Third Mage Battalion of the Republican Army’s Twenty-Second Division was pronounced annihilated.

  Ironically, the only survivors were a few downed in the initial explosion formula who narrowly escaped death.

  The Republican Army ended up mobilizing the Rhine general headquarters’ select mage battalion, but they failed to locate the invaders. On the contrary, they let them burn several supply depots. At that point, the Republican Army Command shifted its full attention entirely onto the invading battalion.

  Rumors of a major offensive. Whispers of the fate of Arene.

  They fought bravely to the last man.

  The stirring echoes of propaganda convinced the Republic that the people had sacrificed themselves and met a tragic end. We can’t let their deaths be in vain.

  The distress of the Imperial Army and the cornered supply lines were simple enough for the Empire to fix, but the blow still stung. So it didn’t hesitate to choose military maneuvers as the way to break out of that horrible situation.

  To secure the front, to secure the Empire.

  But that’s exactly why people of both nations thought…We’re so sick of this. So the Empire was at wits’ end over its unreliable supply lines, and the Republic saw them as hope.

  Little birds were twittering about the movements of the Imperial Army, and the same thing was on everyone’s minds: The Empire is not okay with the current situation. And it was the absolute truth. The Imperial Army General Staff had realized that if they focused on beating the bothersome partisans while relying on a limping rail system for supplies, maintaining an aimless front wasn’t worth it.

  That objective reality fueled the Republic’s misunderstanding. Everyone firmly believed that the Empire’s powerful military organization solved problems through major offensives, like it did in Dacia, like it did in Norden.

  And apart from the delaying at the beginning of the war, the Empire had always defended its territory to the end. Yes, its territory.

  Nobody would withdraw from their own territory. That was the one-sided belief the Republicans had. But to the officers of the Republican Army who paid for a sliver of land with blood, it was self-evident truth. They were proud of defending their home with mountains of dead, so they wondered, Who would part with their fatherland?

  And that was why they ended up misreading the Imperial Army General Staff war machine’s intentions so completely it was ridiculous. Perhaps you could say the Republican soldiers got trapped in their own emotions.

  That day, as a result, the Imperial Army succeeded in abandoning the front without the Republican Army noticing.

  Now then, it’s about time to talk about the seed of the Empire’s victory.

  It all started with the reality of conducting recon-in-force of heavily guarded positions. The dilemma was serious: high casualties versus tactical necessity.

  The fact that estimates said even the Devil of the Rhine and her elite troops would lose at least half their numbers should speak to the danger of it.

  Command and staff officers all understood a
nd struggled with the dilemma that despite that premise, there was an urgent military need for recon-in-force.

  An augmented battalion performing recon-in-force created too many casualties, but any fewer soldiers and they wouldn’t be able to achieve their objective.

  Facing this dilemma, the Imperial Army requested its Technical Arsenal to research a new weapon that would enable penetration into heavily guarded enemy positions and for some degree of reconnaissance. The engineers tentatively suggested a few technical solutions to the problem, and the one that seemed promising was from Aerial Technical Arsenal. They proposed developing a high-altitude recon unit to fly outside the range of anti–air fire. The aerial units that had teams for special recon missions were superior to begin with.

  To the other departments, however, regardless of the latent potential in aerial reconnaissance, there was one cause for concern: Was it actually possible to achieve with their current level of technology? It may have been easy enough to talk about increasing the altitude, but the technical demands of an aircraft that could fly at high altitude presented a lot of hurdles, and they weren’t sure they could handle it.

  That was the moment Chief Engineer Adelheid von Schugel suggested a methodology and approach from the magic point of view.

  “…What about a special apparatus for additional acceleration during recon-in-force?”

  What the heck is that?

  The answer to the question that came into everyone’s minds when they saw the outline of the problem was simple, in a way.

  Reconnaissance-in-force requires penetrating the enemy’s interception lines. So if one assumes an assault to perform a quick strike and pull out, sending a fast, heavily armed unit would be best.

  So all they needed to do was rapidly accelerate past the enemy positions before they could intercept. According to Schugel, putting the mages in additional acceleration apparatuses would solve everything.

  By doing that, they would be able to measure the enemy defenses and interception ability, so everything would work out for the recon-in-force mission as well.

  The argument that they would be able to achieve their aims to some degree using mages for recon-in-force was correct. That was why foot soldiers or mages were used more often than aircraft.

  But casualties had exceeded the permissible limit. That’s why the army had asked the Technical Arsenal for its opinion. This was the conclusion.

  “All right. Have the mages charge at high speed.”

  Aha, certainly if you change your point of view, all you need to do is increase the breakthrough success rate of the mages. So it was true that having them do it at high speed would get the job done. The only problem was that there weren’t any mages who could operate at such speeds and altitudes.

  The one who offered this solution and wondered how to make it possible was one genius, Adelheid von Schugel.

  His answer? Add speed and altitude with an external apparatus.

  The criticism that his idea wasn’t much different from the Aerial Technical Arsenal’s only went so far. After all, altitude was a by-product in his plan, which essentially focused only on speed.

  Hence, “additional acceleration apparatus.”

  But rather than speak of his genius, it’s probably easier to take a look at his plan.

  The apparatus would be equipped with an abundance of extra-large hydrazine fuel boosters. Of all the ways to secure stable flight, he used multiple single-use boosters. And once empty, they would detach along with their external fuel tank, resulting in an even higher speed near the end of the journey.

  On top of that, he gave up on the biggest technical obstacle, regulating the boosters. With great decisiveness, he conquered the hurdle by deciding the thing would simply continue on accelerating. Yes, they would just launch it on a straight path. To put it another way, while it was operating, the mage wouldn’t be able to adjust the speed at all.

  The apparatus would come with a tank of boron additive for accelerating in enemy sky, but that was different. The boron additive, estimated to be ten times as poisonous as potassium cyanide, was for emergency evasion.

  To address the feared shock waves and sudden increase in wave drag, all aeroelasticity issues would be left up to the mage’s protective film and defensive shell.

  (The plan was judged to be possible only with unrestrained booster consumption; aircraft definitely wouldn’t work.)

  With an unbelievable supersonic target speed, Mach 1.5, they would be able to leave anything in the dust.

  And from a purely engineering perspective, it would be easier to realize than a new reconnaissance aircraft. More importantly, it was expected to be ready for actual combat soon.

  To add one final comment, however: Due to the single-use nature of its boosters, the additional acceleration apparatus could fly only in a straight line.

  After breaking through the enemy position, mages were required to return to base under their own steam. No matter how you looked at it, the thing was a one-way ticket to hell. There’s no point in reconnaissance if you can’t get back after you go and see.

  Even if it’s technically practical, a thing isn’t fit for practical use unless it can be used, right? In a way, you would expect people to voice that concern, but when the whispers started…

  An officer from an airborne unit murmured an idea that sounded like it came from another dimension.

  “Then what about sending a ‘unit’ to the rear of an enemy position?” he asked.

  Certainly, it was incredibly dangerous to individuals. It would be nearly impossible to return. Aha, an additional acceleration apparatus that couldn’t return to base was defective as a reconnaissance vehicle. But why limit its use to reconnaissance? It would be a more reliable way of delivering mages behind enemy lines than paradropping.

  And it would get them past any intercepting enemies. After all, simply launching the thing would send it way higher than a practical altitude for anti–air fire. Depending on how it was used, the army could even anticipate sending a company of mages directly to the enemy headquarters to decapitate their operation.

  At that point, Major General von Zettour from General Staff Service Corps went to visit. The research itself continued under Chief Engineer Schugel, but the General Staff requested fairly detailed progress reports.

  And when they understood the value of it, they were overjoyed. The guerrilla warfare proponents were especially ecstatic supporters, and they took steps to prioritize proceeding with the plan. The project received literal leverage from the General Staff.

  With that assistance, a prototype was completed just before the partisans temporarily took over Arene.

  And it just so happened that the Elinium Arms Type 97 Assault Computation Orb was able to make the critical defense shell and protective film.

  According to the test personnel who participated in the experiments, the assault orb functioned exactly as they had hoped.

  Since a measure of reliability had been guaranteed, a first run of twenty mass production models was rolled out in a hurry.

  With that success, the General Staff made a slight but significant amendment to their decisive battle plan. It was great news for Major General von Rudersdorf’s strategy to lure the Republican Army in and destroy them. The apparatus Zettour had spotted while it was in development in Tech Research was written into the plan. They were both thrilled. They would achieve what was, in a way, the dream of all General Staff officers.

  Schrecken und Ehrfurcht.

  The first phase of the operation named “Shock and Awe” was simple.

  “Attack the enemy headquarters directly to cause the collapse of their line.”

  That was it.

  MAY 18, UNIFIED YEAR 1925, THE SECOND DEFENSIVE LINE ON THE RHINE

  It was a clear, cold night. In the Imperial Army’s 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion, Second Lieutenant Warren Grantz was on guard in a wool-lined field overcoat. It was a quieter night than they’d had in quite a while. Yes, a quiet night
. A peaceful time during which he could sit in a chair on standby sipping the coffee provided as part of his field rations.

  The dark hour was rather tranquil. No shells exploding nearby, no warnings to be on guard against raids. He couldn’t even remember the last time they had gone to sleep without hearing so much as rifle fire. It must have been so long ago.

  This calm had come about because the brass carried line consolidation with extraordinary resolve.

  As a result of the successful retreat and reorganization, the Republican Army had hastily launched an advance into the wide-open vacuum the Imperial Army had left; apparently, they were too busy with that to bother with the 203rd. Thanks to that, there was a brief lull on the battlefield. The battalion commander held off any sorties and told everyone to take a break before she went back to bed, giving the exhausted soldiers a much-needed rest.

  And so fortunately, perhaps it could be said, the troops were able to spend a night free of the anxiety induced by the presence of the powerful Commander Degurechaff. When was the last time that had happened?

  Even though these were usually prime hours for nighttime interception missions or for conducting anti-raid patrols, everything was safe and sound.

  Despite knowing they were secure in a rear base, maybe they should have been a little more nervous about surprise attacks under cover of darkness. Of course, it wasn’t as if the unit had grown lax.

  Even if they were so worn out they could sleep anywhere, including the mud, they could still respond to urgent orders at the drop of a hat.

  Still, they relaxed a mite.

  The reason was clear.

  The majority of the Republican Army had advanced into the void and basically forgot about the 203rd’s defensive position.

  The moment the Republican Army emerged from its heavily fortified lines, their soldiers zealously devoted themselves to expanding the army’s gains.

  At this point, they would surely rather move into an abandoned area and advance the front rather than expend blood and iron fighting over a well-defended trench line.