“Nah. We have enough to bowl these jokers over.” Andreas Wolfe wasn’t too annoyed by the gaffe; not many in the army compared to his unit, and he had tempered his expectations quickly. Events like that were why he had devoted a powerful share of his forces to this front in the first place. “We go in right after the artillery touches down and the smoke spreads, or the Revs’ll have time to come to their senses. Stick to the plan, and we’ll punch through. Maybe if we’re fast enough we can grab the royals and negotiate with the Reich with them.”

Wolfe didn’t hold particular contempt for the Royal Family, besides the throne’s limp wristed treatment of the Parliament. The same wasn’t true of many of his men though. He’d given out a directive to capture any Parliament or Royal family members alive and treat them humanely, but he’d read enough history to know what happened when inflamed passions were allowed release without the risk of particular repercussion…and there wasn’t much he could do about it. Halmeggia’s hero expected little other than a tragic end to the Royal Family that had given him praise and recompense over the years, which was an unfair way to repay their favor, but…Halmeggia was too weak before and especially now to rest on his laurels and be a blind servant any more. He indulged in a final spot of nostalgia, the happy days, when the present was bright and the future brighter. He’d come back from a rough engagement on the border with Vitelia when its civil war was just springing up, and he’d been able to bring his daughter to the castle for the celebration, and the party.

His daughter…Eidan. Wolfe felt his eyes go slack, as worry and despair entered his mind. First he’d lost his wife because he had to serve his country…and now, had he lost his daughter as well? Nobody had been able to find her. Wolfe had helped his daughter disguise herself and become strong enough to pass the (admittedly meager) standards of the army’s basic training, for the purposes, apparently, of protecting her old flame. Wolfe didn’t know much about his daughter, to his shame, just that he wanted her to do what she wanted, and to not be tied down by anything.

But this wasn’t what he had been thinking of, was it, he thought as he considered the possibility that Eidan had run off to either the Revolutionaries or the Aristocrats. Would this be worth it, if after Halmeggia was saved and its future safeguarded, he came home to an empty house, his spouse long absent and his daughter missing forever?

“One minute til, Gunmetal.” The platoon leader spoke up. “Everybody who’s in place is ready to go.”

Gunmetal adjusted the flamboyant silver cape he wore upon his shoulders; a symbol more for the benefit of his people than for his own tastes. “Good. Here’s to making this the shortest civil war in history.”

-----

“So that’s Castle Delamil, huh,” you said to nobody in particular, in a low voice, as you observed the castle ahead. The moon was going down and the sun’s brilliance was poking from beyond the horizon, the pale blue of early morning glow having washed away the night, though the brilliant orange of sunrise hadn’t crawled into the palette of the scenery yet. Where there would normally be singing birds there was instead the blast and crash of battle. Shells howled, rifles popped and crackled, smoke and mist mingled while flame dyed spots of the destruction ahead yellow and orange. This was a peaceful, practically painterly scene, chewed up and spat out by the chaotic energies of war, and you were about to dive headlong into its center.

“Captain Roth-Vogel?” Sergeant Dohdt, your Halmeggian ally and scout car section commander, addressed you over the radio. He was positioned somewhat ahead, to search for any threats or obstacles on your approach. “Somebody’s coming. Just a few people, on horseback.”

“Cavalry, huh,” you said to yourself, somewhat amused. Cavalry was still somewhat common in the world, despite their obsolescence. As a tanker (a Luftpanzer might have been Luftwaffe equipment but that made little difference) you had understandable pity for them as your sort stole their place in the modern battlefield. Nevertheless, they had stubbornly hung on, even in parts of the Reich. “They’re coming, you say? As in, for you?”

“Er, yes.” Dohdt specified, “There’s only three of them. They’ve got a truce flag.”

This would have been a good situation for your assigned intelligence officer, Winnifred Von Löwenkreuz (operational name Owl 3) to weigh in on, but you’d left her with the other noncombat personnel well away from here. Now that things were set to get real hot, you couldn’t have her just hanging out on your tank, or just sitting wherever. The field workshop and communications vehicle at least had a token guard to dissuade any curious scouts for a time. All who were forward now were combat personnel.
What harm was there, you supposed, if they wanted to meet. You gave Dohdt permission to speak to them. It wasn’t long after, that Dohdt called again.

“Er, Captain,” Dohdt asked, “They said they want to meet with you. They know you’re from the Reich, too. They say they’re with the Guardians of Halmeggia under General Wolfe, and they’d like to meet with you…and possibly have you meet with the General? They want to arrange a truce between us.”

General? Major “Gunmetal” Wolfe had given himself a promotion, it seemed.

>What harm was there? You’d at least meet with them.
>No. This would delay you from your objective, and you’d likely not reach any agreement anyways. Send them away.
>What an unexpected opportunity. Have Dohdt delay them and send a unit up to capture them; you’d have to fight Wolfe, you expected, and you could get some information from these people; perhaps not the most honorable plan, but you had to win this.
>Other?

>Past Threads Archive Pastebin (Luftpanzer is at the top): https://pastebin.com/UagT0hnh
>twitter is @scheissfunker for updates and announcements.

>>3092797
>>No. This would delay you from your objective, and you’d likely not reach any agreement anyways. Send them away.
Wolfe doesn't look like he'll be willing to wait for us, and we'd better make sure we reach the Royals before he does.

>>3092797
>What harm was there? You’d at least meet with them.
Teeth, meet ass

>>3092797
>What harm was there? You’d at least meet with them.

>>3092797
>No. This would delay you from your objective, and you’d likely not reach any agreement anyways. Send them away.

>>3092797
>What an unexpected opportunity. Have Dohdt delay them and send a unit up to capture them; you’d have to fight Wolfe, you expected, and you could get some information from these people; perhaps not the most honorable plan, but you had to win this.

Well, now that the Militarists know who we are, our plan of try and blend in with their attack wave is officially fucked.

Hell, if we capture them maybe it will delay HIS plan.

Gonna roll this off then.

1 is Meet, 2 tells them to fuck off

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>3093587
Be nice if I actually roll the dice this time.

“That won’t be happening,” You told Dohdt over the radio. Maybe in another time you’d agree, but at the moment, time was short, and these people weren’t near trustworthy enough to have a nice chat with while Halmeggia was burning around you. It wasn’t like you’d be like to reach an agreement if you did talk anyways, you figured. “Tell ‘em to go back where they came. We’re not stopping for anything now.”

“You’ll tell them that we don’t plan to parley, and then simply let them go?” another of your allied officers, one Lieutenant Alterwald, questioned your decision over the radio. “I would think it wiser to capture them and interrogate them, if we are to tell Wolfe that we are coming anyways.”

“That would hardly be an honorable way of going about this,” Fischer made his opinion known.

“If we do them a favor, we might have a favor done in return,” Covacs speculated, “Perhaps. If we end up needing one.”

“Sure.” Covacs summed up the practical aspect of your thoughts well enough, but it was just as much as you saw the less gentlemanly procedure as unnecessary. “Besides, they’re on horseback. I plan on hitting the field a lot sooner than Wolfe can take advantage of us telling him we’re on our way. Ideally, we won’t have to fight them, still.” Though how practical that plan of action would be remained to be seen.

-----

“Looks like there’s an assault about to start,” you heard Sergenant Schneider comment on the radio; indeed, prepatory smoke barrages had been sailing down as your company plus got into position. The situation was…difficult to tell from here, unlike earlier. It was brighter, certainly, but morning mist, as well as general smoke and concealment, made the actual battlefield hard to read, especially as all ahead had fallen into the quiet just before an assault wave really set the place afire.

“What do you see out there, Dohdt?” you asked your scout element, who had gone out well ahead. There had been a small village; it was near impossible to see anything in it, but the maps said it was there, beyond the dense white smoke.

“I don’t see nothing, except some earthworks, dunno who’s in.” Dohdt sniffed, “I don’t like this. I feel like I’m going to get blasted if I get up much closer. Can’t we all go up?”

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“Scout cars over yonder,” Covacs reported, “Who knows if they’ve seen us. Or care. Hopefully they’ll not think us a priority from what they see.”

“Don’t forget the group we saw on the way here,” Schenider added. What he mentioned was a roughly company strength group of mixed armor you’d spied a ways back, that had been heading this direction. You’d kept slightly ahead of it; though both of you had been going to the same place, you already knew, though unlike you they were probably planning on slugging it out with Wolfe.

Ideally, you’d try and bust through to the castle as quickly as possible, but that might have meant making yourself a priority for one side or the other. If you waited some, both sides could be weakened and thus easier to punch through, but every minute counted as is; could you afford to delay for a better chance at punching through?

There was also the matter of what side to break through. You’d prefer personally to fight Revolutionaries, certainly, but they had entrenched from the sound of things to receive this latest assault. You wouldn’t be attacking from the direction they expected, of course, but it was still earthwork nevertheless. Meanwhile, the militarists would be moving forward; they’d be the simplest to slip behind, but that would mean a much greater likelihood of fighting them. Also of concern was the width of your formation; moving in a block or a line would mean that your formation would be able to hit whatever they encountered with more force, but it would also mean you would be less able to slip through cracks. You supposed it depended all on how forceful you wanted to be. Rolling up an enemy too hard, after all, would mean that one side would have an easier time of fighting off the other…and then you.

>Plan your general tactical movement. Your objective is to get units to the north; shortly after that is the castle. Whether you want to move on that with all your people or what gets there first will be up to you.
>Keep in mind that your communications are currently not in a great position; calling in artillery or air support will be difficult due to you being out of good radio range to headquarters, and will demand a roll to see if the order gets through. Thus for things like smoke it may be more efficient to use your Luftpanzer Ein’s WP shells.
>The current lines of the militarists and RAGV are not known, but it can be counted on that the smoke is being done as preparation for an attack by the militarists, at least. Similarly, their composition and strength is unknown. It might serve well to be careful, but you can’t delay too much either!

This is a complicated setup so I'll let you people hash out some things, and if a general consensus isn't reached, I'll sum up the options in condensed votes and we'll go from there.

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Additionally, here are the rules for this sort of combat
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZvO-v_JnTO6bhSbsI9nUg8jhlqVowFR_/view
As well as the attached picture being of your current units and their stats.

If you don't like the numbers game much, don't worry too much about it. I've been bending rules anyways; this is just for those interested. General ideas and plans don't require attention to these details, after all.

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>>3093734
Get everyone to flank westward beyond the Militarists as per the map.

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>>3093734
If we're basing that the current enemy white smoke markers are going to be where the two sides are gonna clash then we'd want to try and pass behind the Militarists a little after they make contact.

Hopefully both sides will be occupied with the initial firefight and focus their attention on each other instead of us.

Lead with Wedge formation, AUSC tanks to give the Militarists the initial impression that we are friendlies followed by Reich tanks and one Infantry group. The other Infantry should stay behind and protect the support camp.

If we try and force too close to one side or the other then we'll be their priority because we'll be the only enemy in that area. The RAGVies are dug in and facing towards us, the Militarists know who we are and racing in the path we're heading.

Just because we can't see them doesn't mean they aren't already there and waiting. I'm almost sure there are hidden Militarists in those blanks spots West.

We dump smoke on the black markers to shield our approach from the Militarists side at first and hopefully hit the RAGVie / Milly fight by the farthest white smoke markers with more smoke.

I have to go to work but will try and follow the thread.

>>3093773
I'd rather circle around the Militarists than charge fortified positions with terrain that infantry can easily hide in yeah.

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>>3093734
OK, I misread the post thinking we were already at the castle instead of some village to its south. How can we see the castle, is it on a hill or mountain?

New plan: skirt along those trees northeast of the village in a narrow formation before making a run north. Drop smoke in the narrow gap between the woods to cover the run. Any RAGV coming through those woods are likely too light to pose a threat.

>>3093816
It's on a hill; roughly just north off the map.

>>3093777
I like this plan, if we can move quickly through the backline in a formation that favors speed over firepower, we can probably make it through without having to destroy much of the militarist force. When we get to the frontline though, I have a feeling the situation will have developed so that no plan will really be helpful other than the overall strategy of pushing north.

>>3092797
>>What harm was there? You’d at least meet with them.

>>3095145
Anon, we're past that roll already...

>>3093734

>>3093777
My vote for this

Will be back and updating in a few hours, sorry for the extended wait. I'll try to move through this quickly after to make up for it.

Alright. I've got all the combat and map stuff done, so I should be updating soon; just have to write it all. Sorry for the wait, again!

>>3097107
Also I know I said we'd vote again for condensed versions of compiled plans, but I'm sure you've all waited enough, and I think there was general majority agreement to go with this >>3093777

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“Listen up people,” you announced after poring over the map, “From the looks of things, Wolfe’s militarists are attacking from the west. They’ll be focused on moving forwards, so I’m willing to bet that means they’ll be more focused on the RAGvies they’re attacking than some randos moving behind them.” You used some of the local slang for the revolutionaries that you’d picked up, said in various small chatter. “We can exploit that to get nice and far without fighting. Sergeant Dohdt, you’re going to be very important in this, I want you to pick us out a trail we can pass through. Then, Lieutenant Alterwald will follow. You’re all still wearing the colors of the Army, so it won’t be immediately clear you aren’t militarists. The rest of us will follow you through that road you pave in a wedge formation. If we do run into any roadblocks, we’re not hesitating. Dohdt can fall back, and Alterwald can help us smash right through. Remember our mission; if a militarist gets in the way, don’t hesitate even if they are nicer than the Revs. Now let’s get going. That offensive is going to start soon and I’m betting it won’t last long one way or the other. Everybody, get ready to move out- except Fahne Platoon.” You exempted one of your infantry platoons, “I want you people to head back to our support elements and protect them. I want to make sure we don’t have to perform more than one rescue mission tonight.”

As you and the company powered forward, where there was once relative quiet, a storm of war soon broke out from within the smoke and mist- a ferocious offensive in the process of starting.

Meanwhile, the scout cars sighted earlier remained relatively idle. When you asked Dohdt about them, he told you that they hadn’t seemed aggressive; more curious of their counterpart than anything, perhaps unsure of if they were friendly or not. Dohdt asked if he should fire, and you replied no; best for them to remain uncertain.

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“They’re moving around to our south now,” Dohdt said uncertainly of the militarist scouts, “I mean, they’re quite lightly armed…that sort only has a machine gun, but they’re still potential enemies.”

“Leave them be if they don’t want to fight.” You replied immediately. Though it might be troublesome if they were suspicious of you, and were shadowing you, feeding information about your movements to your superiors. Chances were still good though, that they weren’t sure still; even though they were now moving down your formation and surely seeing what were Reich vehicles; albeit only identifiable as such by color and markings.

“More contact,” Dohdt reported later, as Wolfe’s offensive had drowned out the hills with rolling crackles, like a colossal fireworks celebration that failed to leap into the air. “Armor, in the woods before the village. They’re firing into the mess.”

“What sort of armor?” you demanded.

“They look like Dok-Doks.” Your confused silence prompted a follow up from the scout sergeant. “Er, Dok-Doks are ABm7/17s. They’re old models, but they have a newer turret and a different gun. They’re called that name ‘cause of the noise their 12.7 millimeter makes.”

So that’s what that sound was. It was difficult to separate the noise from the rest of the chaos, but you’d place it more as a Dak-Dak than a Dok-Dok. Oh well. “So they’re distracted with the fighting in the village. Nobody else close enough to say anything about?”

“No sir.”

“Well then.” You sighed, “Continue.” Your plan had been going well up til now; all the anger in this battlefield was being directed someplace other than your people. Though one part of your movement required you to weave between the lines that were now facing each other; you hoped that that point wouldn’t be proportionately rough to all the quiet you’d had.

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From what you could hear of the combat in the village, all hell was breaking loose; though only somewhat more than the rest of the line. Good thing you weren’t involved in any of that; the reconquests of Fealinn and Felbach had been lightning wars, and the enemy had been dismantled to the point where engagements such as what was happening now were rare, and certainly not something you had ever encountered besides the flanks of tail ends of. It was certainly helped that in both wars the Reich had been so much more powerful; these two foes were likely relatively evenly matched, and the fighting would be all the more terrible for it.

“Dohdt, you’re coming up on our crossing point soon, yeah?” You asked, “Give me a contact report, stat.”

“Sir!” The nervous scout NCO must have been quite thankful in his own way that you hadn’t seen combat in this particular battle yet; especially since he would have been likely the first to run into it. “Both Militarist and Revolutionary units sighted! Militia retreating to the north, atop the hill; they’ve been driven out by something. Serious combat going on in the woods east of our crossing point, between tanks and infantry. Revolutionary tanks, ABm11/26s, but there’s what look like Militarist Lpz-24s north too; looks like they were fighting the people on the hill.”

“Captain,” Fischer said from the back of the formation; he didn’t seem too excited at the moment, since he was in the rearguard. “Those scouts. They are certainly latched onto us like shy schoolgirls admiring a lad from a distance. Are you sure we should not move to drive them off?”

That would depend if your plans were going to change, you thought, but you held off on responding for now. Once you got to the crossing point, you’d drown the whole affair in smoke and cross through, though now that you saw more of the situation…would you have to change your plans?

>No amendments. Keep going and drive right through.
>Shift the crossing point to somewhere else; that seemed too unsafe now. (Where?)
>Why cross? Punch north through the Militarist’s own smoke. Maybe if you were lucky, you wouldn’t even have to fight them…
>Other things?
Also
>Deal with the scouts harshly or no?
In addition, if you want to try and notice or piece together anything else about the situation, go on and write that in and I’ll answer how your units see it.

>>3097306
>>Why cross? Punch north through the Militarist’s own smoke. Maybe if you were lucky, you wouldn’t even have to fight them…
>Deal with the scouts harshly.
If they have radios they might be able to convey our movements to Wolfe. Drive them off.

>>3097306
Good thing we went when we did, RAGVie is getting his ass handed to him.

>Shift the crossing point to somewhere else; that seemed too unsafe now. (Where?)
Follow those retreating Militia, as if we were trying to rout them. Keeping the Militarists confused is better than starting a shooting war just yet.

We can starting firing at Revolutionaries as we cross lines to make it even more like we're just Militarist forces coming to the charge. Although I don't like the idea of whatever forced the Revs to retreat being near us.

>Deal with the scouts harshly or no?
Sort...of?
Fire a warning shot near them behind us if we can do it smoothly and quickly. Make it obvious we don't *want* to shoot them but we can if they keep following. The worst case is if the scouts drop Arty on us or get the Militarists on the Line to turn around and surround us.

Also fire smoke between us and that ABm7/17 in the woods closest to us.

>Other things?
Radio check with Owl 3, ask if the bombers in the sky are still up there.

>>3097356
As an addition to this, if we can contact our air support see if one of them can do a flyby for recon.

>>3097306
>Why cross? Punch north through the Militarist’s own smoke. Maybe if you were lucky, you wouldn’t even have to fight them…
>Fire warning shots at the scouts

Looks like the militarists have pushed forwards, so there might not be any behind the smoke.

>>3097306
>No amendments. Keep going and drive right through

We already marked ourselves as a non-friendly party by not negotiating, and I would rather break through a part of the line that seems fairly ok, rather than push our luck and find even more units.

More importantly though, do we still have some of the hull smoke launchers left on anyone’s luftpanzer? If we do I would much rather fire off those to obscure us a bit from those trailing scout cars before we attack. I think it’s a much better idea than shooting at them, which only really serves to confirm any suspicions they have about us.

>>3097306

>>3097356
This, but rather than firing a warning shoot at the scouts right away, pop smoke instead, as >>3098091 suggested

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>>3098091
This.

Rolled 3 (1d3)

So. Uh.

A tie. A three way, I think? I'm not sure if >>3097369 is supporting the other vote or what.

So I'll roll off on this is everybody's fine with that. If it turns out that was a vote change, say so and I'll just go on with that, but otherwise, I'm gonna pick based off this. 1 is the first option, and same with 2 and 3 being 2nd and 3rd. I think the opinion of what to do about the scouts was pretty together though.

>>3099111
Right, so based on this, the plan is to adjust course to drive north through the Militarist offensive's own smoke. Additionally, some smoke'll be shot to aid that, and a radio check with air support. Keep in mind that that'll require a pretty difficult roll check; you're out of range for good comms, as far behind enemy lines as you are with variable terrain.

>>3098091
>More importantly though, do we still have some of the hull smoke launchers left on anyone’s luftpanzer? If we do I would much rather fire off those to obscure us a bit from those trailing scout cars before we attack. I think it’s a much better idea than shooting at them, which only really serves to confirm any suspicions they have about us.

You do; you haven't had to pop them off yet. The general opinion to avoid hostility means, I think, that that would be the action that's wanted, so we'll go with that.

Writing now, then. Barring any objections.

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An opportunity presented itself. It seemed as though Wolfe’s offensive was making great progress in a short time; at least in places. That meant there could be a space for you to pass through, right through the former lanes of advance that were still obscured by smoke. There was the risk that you’d run right into the rear of the enemy, or, if they knew you were coming, their front…but if that were the case you could run right back behind the smoke.

Speaking of enemies and smoke, though, you had to do something about the scouts tailing your formation that Fischer reported. They were lightly armed armored cars; warning shots would certainly ward them off, but it would also confirm hostility; something you wanted to keep obscure for now, if you could. Yes, it would definitely be best to take the subtler approach to hindering the scouts’ mission; if they persisted, then you could escalate.

“Use your smoke grenade launchers, Fischer,” you told the 3rd platoon commander, “Don’t pop off any real ordinance on them.” Those launchers weren’t something you had a lot of shots for; each tank basically had one launching before having to engage in a rather laborious reloading process, but the purpose of ammunition was to shoot it. Saving it would serve you little.

“That would still be rather suspicious.” Covacs pointed out.

“Suspicious is better than hostile,” you explained, “It’s either that or we do shoot at them. This’ll do.” At least, unless the enemy decided to charge through the smoke. It would delay them, at least. Hopefully.

“The onlookers will be given fog, then,” Fischer declared. A few moments later. “Smoke fired. If we hurry, then we will be far from the enemy, should they be properly cautious.”

“Unlike you, then.” Covacs quipped.

“Indeed.” Fischer agreed with the criticism.

While the fighting north and near your original crossing point seemed to suddenly calm down significantly, the village fighting had kept on as furiously as ever, even intensified. A stubborn point in the line; or perhaps one where the offensive wasn’t as well supported. Where was Gunmetal Wolfe, you wondered; he apparently liked to lead from the front. Perhaps this attack to the north had obliterated the enemy with ease due to his presence?...That would put you uncomfortably close to him, wouldn’t it.

As the lot of you advanced on the lingering walls of smoke, still untouched by battle, Dohdt vanished into the walls, and began to report; presumably not very well. Even smoke that wasn’t generated by white phosphorous was irritating to breathe; it wasn’t meant to be lingered inside of.
“There’s plenty of infantry in the woods,” he murmured; he must have kept well inside the car, where bad air was at least somewhat shut out, even if most older armored vehicles were still a bit permeable by gas and smoke. “I hear movement, too. A lot of movement. Movement by armor.”

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“As long as it’s not heading towards us,” you answered. “Keep an ear out. Tell us where they sound like they’re going, we’ll keep heading north. No adjustments to our movement, but be ready for a fight.” A fight you hoped you wouldn’t have to fight; not that you weren’t up for it, but some more luck tonight would be comforting.

Indeed, you continued moving your group forward; Fischer reported that the scouts from earlier weren’t tailing you further, or at least, he couldn’t see them doing so; such would have to do. The fighting in the village continued, as fierce as before, though the field near you similarly remained eerily quiet, save for the telltale sound of motors and treads far off. As you passed by your initial crossing point, you had Schneider have his Luftpanzer II Eins fire White Phosphorous shells in the space between the woods and yourself; far enough away from any potential enemies to seem completely innocuous…albeit confusing. When you asked Dohdt for an update, he stated that they were going to the east…and south.

“That’s nice of them,” Covacs said skeptically, “So why in the world are they going there? They must know we’re here by now.”

“Maybe it’s cause we haven’t fired a single shot in anger,” Sergeant Schneider in charge of what was left of 2nd platoon said, “While the Revolutionaries have done nothing but shoot at them. Maybe these guys are more after the Revolutionaries than they are the castle.”

“Or because their friends seem to be having trouble to the south,” Fischer added, “They have decided aiding them is more important than stopping us?”
“If they know who we are,” Alterwald said, “The battlefield is chaotic. We’ve moved too quickly, I think, for Wolfe to be sure. Unless he has been concealing omniscience.”

Quicker than you thought possible, you were almost ready to punch through the north. Was this too easy, or had you been clever? Or fortunate? Best not to question it.

However, you did have to check on your air support, or potential for it. After all, you might need it soon…in short order.

>Roll up to 3 sets of 1d100, best of, to attempt to contact HQ for an update on your air support, and see if you can get messages through at all. You must roll under a 30 to succeed.

>>3099043
Do not share hot springs pls

Rolled 99 (1d100)

>>3099514

Rolled 74 (1d100)

>>3099514

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>>3099514
Oops, forgot to resave that. There's supposed to be smoke right *here*

Rolled 37 (1d100)

>>3099514

You did your best to get around the limitation of distance and intervening terrain; even tried to relay back through the signals truck to get that little bit more, but to no avail. Any transmissions were too mucked up to get much out of- and in spite of anything you sent down the line, you doubted they could hear you any better than you could them. This was anticipated; but still unpleasant. Your support wouldn’t be able to help you based off your direction; you’d have to go about things the old fashioned way, if at all; firing flares and hoping somebody saw them, unless you could, perhaps, seize the castle and its communications…

That would have to be seen if it would be practical, though. As the Militarists mysteriously drew away from you, the Castle loomed close; you could charge on ahead to it, it was close enough that you could practically smell your objective. As long as you weren’t about to stumble onto a smoking ruin.

Though…how to do it? Did you expect a fight large enough to need your entire complement? Or should you ensure a safe exit by stringing your force out? Who would go in with you? Certainly, you’d be going to the front…you couldn’t think of not leading the way in for this.

>Go in with everybody. It had worked til now; it would keep working, even though you’d certainly draw attention now, despite all your luck…
>Go in with only a section of your people. (Composition of section will be decided further if this is chosen)
>Don’t go up north quite yet; your exit was still insecure. Advance to another point where you could escape easier.
>Other?
Also
>Anything you want to pay any mind to on the map?

>>3099593
>Don’t go up north quite yet; your exit was still insecure. Advance to another point where you could escape easier.

>>3099593
>>Go in with only a section of your people.

I say we take only our luftpanzers and we leave everyone else to form a sort of strongpoint to help us when we get out. If there is any place we would want to move through that might be occupied when we come back I want them dug in there, or at least in some position where they can move to assist us or start clearing a path once we get back out.

This also solves the problem of the Castle garrison misidentifying us as the militarists.

>>3099593
>>Don’t go up north quite yet; your exit was still insecure. Advance to another point where you could escape easier.

>>3099593
>>Don’t go up north quite yet; your exit was still insecure. Advance to another point where you could escape easier.

>>3099829
>>3099839
>>3099618
Don't go yet- move elsewhere, make more preparations.

Not much to write with this choice, but calling it and writing.

“Are we going to press north then, Captain?” Alterwald asked blithely, “Or shall we wait for Gunmetal Wolfe to return and give us a tour.”

“I don’t want to make this our exit route,” you said warily, “I’d rather push in from somewhere else.”

“Why?” Covacs asked, “That’s time we don’t have much of.”

“We’ve saved plenty of time by not getting into any fights,” you said back, “We can invest some of that back here to make sure we don’t get trapped, yeah? Trust me on this. If you have any ideas, I’ll hear them out.”

“It’s true that we’re behind Wolfe’s lines,” Covacs relented, instead devoting his mind to your decision and where it could take you, “The scout sergeant said that the armor he heard earlier was heading south for some reason? That indicates to me that the east is open. We can penetrate into the lines of the Revolutionaries and avoid having to potentially push through militarist lines. If that’s what you want.”

“There are also woods in the space between hills here,” Dohdt piped up, “I saw it while looking about. If we wanted to avoid being seen, we could go through those…”

“We don’t know what’s in there though.” Covacs pointed out.

“Well, yes.” Dohdt admitted, and didn’t follow that up.

“I would like to remind everybody that the militarists are still our enemies,” Alterwald droned, “They are as much in our way as anybody else. Their guard has been lulled down, and we are in a position to strike from behind. Wolfe has done an admirable job of shredding the Revolutionary line to pieces. If we were to deal him a blow next, that would leave the largest weak point of all to break out of.”

“Striking a merciful foe in the back is hardly honorable.” Fischer said firmly.

“Challenge Wolfe to a duel yourself if you feel the need to trip over courtesy.” Alterwald was little concerned by the implied slight. “This is all only necessary if you would rather not buy passage another way.”

Alterwald hadn’t said it outright; Eidan Wolfe had access to communications, after all, but it was true that she was as much a potential hostage as a comrade; with your lack of stable communications to headquarters, perhaps she was more useful as such, to a cynic…

>Push east and loop around; that way you could avoid fighting the stronger foe of the Guardians of Halmeggia
>Sneak through the woods; your movement wouldn’t be known, and thus not prepared against as well.
>Strike the Militarists in the back; all that mattered for your mission was victory, not being a pleasant opponent.
>Other actions? (The map situation is as it was before in the latest map update. Don't feel that you are restricted to the above three plans.)

>>3099916
>>Strike the Militarists in the back; all that mattered for your mission was victory, not being a pleasant opponent.

>>3099916
>Sneak through the woods; your movement wouldn’t be known, and thus not prepared against as well.

>>3099916
>Strike the Militarists in the back; all that mattered for your mission was victory, not being a pleasant opponent.

Less strike, more follow, if they keep their offensive we either tail it out of here break through emptier back lines.

There's something in those woods and it's probably carrying petrol bottles.

>>3099916
>Strike the Militarists in the back; all that mattered for your mission was victory, not being a pleasant opponent.

>>3099916
>>Strike the Militarists in the back; all that mattered for your mission was victory, not being a pleasant opponent.

>>3099923
>>3099962
>>3100031
>>3100210
Alrighty then, turning round and whacking these fellows in the back for letting you behind them.
This also shouldn't be a long one to get set up, though the question of where to attack is relevant.
Just like before, right when I think a map's going to pass by without you getting into a single fight.

File: Spoiler Image (770 KB, 950x1100)

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>>3099514
>Do not share hot springs pls
You have no power over me, Tanq.

“I have to admit,” You said, looking out the top of the Cupola and hearing the battle rising once more like a tide, “I concur with Lieutenant Alterwald. We’re not going to get an opportunity like this again to clear our own backs. The militarists here won’t be more occupied or vulnerable than they are now the way things are going, and we can’t forget the fact that they’re our enemies as much as the Revolutionaries are. When push comes to shove, they’ll shoot at us the same.”

“But to attack them in the back?” Fischer blurted, “They have sent men to speak with us and have let us come this far, possibly in good faith-“

“Then we’ll be the ones to fire the first shot. As the winners tend to.” Covacs finished.

“…In good faith,” Fischer got back on the radio sternly, “Then it would leave a bad taste in my mouth to repay that by exploiting that to end their lives. Do not misread my words, I recognize that these are the enemy and have no qualms engaging them in battle, but even an enemy deserves respect.”

“I was not aware that we were going to attend a jousting tournament,” Alterwald said drily.

“Captain.” Fischer insisted. “I hope that my concerns are heard.”

Fischer was an old style sort of warrior. A romantic to the core; something you certainly sympathized with, but did you agree with it here? You’d certainly done a few nasty things tonight, but it had been out of necessity, you thought. The question then, you supposed…was what could be passed off as part of the means to an end, while still being proper?

That could be decided later. You had to think about your plan of attack; Fischer’s reluctance did not stem from cowardice, after all.

From what you could tell of the battlefield thus far, you could strike in from several points, towards opposition of varying strength. Firstly, you could spring out of the smoke and straight towards the armor heading away from you, counting on violence of action to let you wipe out a good portion of what was encountered in the first volley by engaging the rear. Another option was to strike known enemy infantry positions in the woods, counting on the density of your unit to smash them aside before hitting what was beyond. You could also maneuver more subtly, moving through the smoke that had been laid down to appear in the rear of an ongoing battle with the Revolutionaries, south of the woods by you and north of the village; ironically, where you initially planned to move before. Attacking the militarists while they fought revolutionaries would certainly weight matters in your favor. Finally, there was the option to go with a similar attack towards an occupied foe, but further south, in the village, where fighting still raged. Those would likely be the less powerful units with the militarists, as their most concentrated armor complement was north.

File: lp_delamilattackplan.jpg (554 KB, 2000x1589)

554 KB JPG

“How do you think you’ll warn them anyways, Fischer, you daft idealist?” Covacs demanded with frustration, “Will you wave a flag and meet with them before informing them that yes, we’d much like to kill each other now?”

“Well-“ Fischer began to object, but he was interrupted.

“Captain.” You heard Wolfe’s voice; it was softer than usual, with no attempt at a masculine disguise upon it; you wondered if the quiet afterwards was confusion towards that, or surprise. “On that…If you want, I…uh, know a channel they could be contacted on. If you wanted.”

“And how do you know that?” Alterwald didn’t bother sounding suspicious- it was as if he already knew who Wolfe was and why she’d know such a thing, no matter how she had hid it.

“…” Wolfe didn’t respond to that. “You don’t need to know. Although…I just want to say. Captain. I just want you to…think about what we’ve talked about, for this.”

You’d certainly have liked to. But would that be a luxury?

>Plan A: Direct Attack
>Plan B: Through the woods
>Plan C: Down the road and through the smoke
>Plan D: Go to town
>Some other plan?
Also
>Deny Fischer’s request, but acknowledge his concerns; if he doesn’t want to go through with this, though, you won’t force him to come with the rest of you.
>Demand Fischer look at this how it is; you don’t have a choice on this matter.
>Acknowledge Fischer’s concern; you’ll figure something out. (What?)
>Acknowledge Fischer’s concer; use Wolfe’s access to the mystery radio channel to open up comms with her father and tell him you’re coming, as well as anything else. (What?)
>Other?

>>3100641
Wew. That's real good, thanks a lot.

>>3100802
>Acknowledge Fischer’s concer; use Wolfe’s access to the mystery radio channel to open up comms with her father and tell him you’re coming, as well as anything else. (What?)

We could use this to our advantage, call up Wolfe and identify ourselves clearly. Do not state where we are but tell him we have to move past his troops and we are asking for a confirmation that we will not be attacked.

Now I am hoping that in all the fighting that the knowledge of where we are so far is spotty, so I do not think Wolfe will be able to tell all his troops to look out behind them, that would create too much confusion. He will not likely agree to letting us pass, so if he does not we will tell him that we gave him a chance and we are punching through. That should be enough to satisfy Fisher and Wolfedaughter while keeping our attack from being too spoiled.

If we get let through, amazing, but if Wolfe takes much time to decide puts us on hold we attack.

>Plan A
Keep it simple, we have a lot of firepower and we are moving through open terrain against an enemy that does not expect us.

>>3100931
This works, it's not great that we are warning Wolfe that we're leaving with what we came for but at least from here it's a position of greater strength.

He'll have to choose whether to make an enemy of the Reich or not.

Let's go with A, his armor is facing away and they seem like the greatest threat, they can maneuver against us where almost everything else seems like it's occupied with the RAGVies.

>>3100931
Supporting

>>3100931
+1

>>3100641
>>3099043
Excellent stuff my man, PCQ as a series definitely deserves more fan art. Makes me wish I could draw vehicles worth a damn. n-not that I dislike tanq's super-topographical maps and cute tank models or anything!

I am now around.
>>3100931
>>3100963
>>3101284
>>3101404
Unanimous, makes things easy. Writing now.

Two routes lay before you now; both went forward, yes, but with one, you would have to fight; for the other, you would continue on your way, having made no further enemies. At first you’d thought there was only the former, but evidently, Eidan Wolfe was motivated by finally being near her famed father on the field- and may have seen the possibility of him falling here. That she withheld this knowledge wasn’t appreciated, but since she finally shared it…you certainly weren’t the sort to kill a young lady’s father in front of her, if you could help it. In a position of tactical strength and appearing by surprise, you counted on catching Wolfe’s father off guard; if he was the sort you’d heard he was, then maybe you could speak man to man and make some fleeting agreement. An agreement that need only last long enough for you to flit in to your objective and escape.

“I’ve thought about it,” You replied to Wolfe, “Fischer, you might just get your wish. Hell, if we’re lucky and cool enough, maybe we won’t have to fight these guys after all. If I have that frequency, I’ll tell Wolfe we’re coming, right for his ass…unless we can work something out between us.”

“I never knew you to be a diplomatic mastermind,” Alterwald said.

“I’m a pretty charming guy.” You insisted defensively, “And I’m counting on Gunmetal being smart as well as a swell enough fella to draw all these people to fight for him. If he wants to make this a fight after I tell him that the finest fighters of his Majesty Kaiser Henrik’s Grossreich of Czeiss, successors of the glory of Alexander, are set up behind his back while he’s fighting an enemy to his front, then that’s on him, and I’ll gladly kick his ass after that. But I’m betting he’s better than that. Eidan, give me the frequency. I’m going to keep us conserving our ammunition the whole way up.”

Cocky as you put yourself up as, if it actually came down to a fight against Wolfe, you didn’t want to find out if he had any surprises waiting; in particular, the heavier mediums that you’d seen Alterwald commanding previously, that were likely invulnerable to all of your weaponry from the front save for the special shaped charge shells carried by your Luftpanzer II Eins, and in the hands of a war hero, no less.

Wolfe gave you the frequency, and you had your unit steadily advance east, while not quite leaving the shroud of covering smoke yet- fading though that was. With a deep breath, you began transmitting, your heart wishing for everything, though you really should have been expecting nothing. What if Wolfe Senior wasn’t even listening on this net, after all? You supposed, if he wasn’t, then he probably didn’t care about his daughter…and that didn’t sound like the sort of man he was.

“Operator?” you humored yourself by testing the line’s activity with insipid bullshit. You’d be serious once you knew somebody was actually listening. “Can you connect me to the Gentleman’s club…you know the one, down on the south side of town. Can’t remember because I was wasted, but I might have left something there. In one of the girls.”

“Who the hell is this?” a voice came back that seemed like it was shouting even though its volume was reasonable. “You better say who’s talking right now, and how you got this frequency, or else I’m gonna-“

“Relax, friend,” you cut off your horseshit, “Am I talking to the famous Gunmetal Wolfe?”

“Damn straight you are.” The response wasn’t prideful- it was to the point, so you did not play any more games.

“I’m Captain Reinhold Roth-Vogel, commander of the 1st Company of the Luftwaffe’s 1st battalion of Luftpanzers, and I serve the Kaiser and the Reich.”

“The Reich?” Wolfe echoed, “You’re a long way from home, Captain. But answer my other question. Fast.”

>Your daughter’s safe. That’s all you need to know. Let’s get to business, shall we?
>I got this frequency from a lovely young lady. She’s very concerned abut you, y’know.
>Eidan’s with us, you know. I don’t know why she’s here and you’re there, but if this gets into a fight, we both know what could happen, don’t we? How about we establish that first.
>Other?

>>3102486
>I got this frequency from a lovely young lady. She’s very concerned abut you, y’know.

>>3102486
>I got this frequency from a lovely young lady. She’s very concerned abut you, y’know.

>>3102486
>Eidan’s with us, you know. I don’t know why she’s here and you’re there, but if this gets into a fight, we both know what could happen, don’t we? How about we establish that first.

If we start getting shot at, Eidan might get hurt. Sell it like Eidan could be in any vechicle that gets taken out if his men start shooting. We make it clear that if Wolfe’s men shoot at us they are shooting at his daughter.

We haven’t attacked the militarists yet, if we can make it seem like Wolfe’s next decision could be the one that kills Eidan, we might not have to yet.

>>3102486
>>I got this frequency from a lovely young lady. She’s very concerned abut you, y’know.

>>3102486
>Eidan’s with us, you know. I don’t know why she’s here and you’re there, but if this gets into a fight, we both know what could happen, don’t we? How about we establish that first.

Every other response gives the light impression that she's our hostage, honesty first that she is fighting on our side and that she gave us this frequency because she's worried.

Don't mention she's serving first among the AUSC.

>>3102491
>>3102500
>>3102910
Hit on the war hero's daughter is a go.

>>3102661
>>3102921
Though make sure it's clear where and why you got the transmission, hm?

Calling it and writing.

“I got this frequency from a lovely young lady,” you tried to be disarming; hopefully it didn’t come across as creepy. There was a fine line. “She’s very concerned about you, y’know.”

“A lovely young lady?” Wolfe sounded confused, like you’d described Eidan a way most people wouldn’t. “If you know this code, though…are you…no, you said your name was Reinhold. You must have met her, though…You’d best explain-“

“I’m getting to that, Major,” you assumed a more reverent tone, “We’ve got your daughter, but she’s here because she wants to be. Nobody’s keeping her here. She told us how to contact you because she’s worried. Worried that we’re going to fight.”

“Let me speak with her,” Wolfe’s voice was growing more stressed, “Only for a moment, but-“

“Wait a moment, we need to take care of something else first, and you’ve got a battle to mind, don’t you?” you cut off Wolfe, “Right now, I’m behind your lines. We’re heading to the castle, and you might have the mind to get in the way of our mission. I just want to warn you, that if we can’t agree to not shoot at each other, I’m going to come right for your people. This is a whole armored company, Major. I don’t like to sing my own praises too highly, but you’ve gotta know how much chaos we can wreak if we’re put up to it.”

“…You’re pretty strange, to be threatening to come kick my ass, instead of saying you’ll shoot my daughter,” Wolfe picked up right away, “…Alright. You’re not going to hurt my daughter, even if I don’t go with what you want? Speak what you want, then.”

“I want to pass to and from Castle Delamil unmolested by your troops,” you said, “You haven’t shot at us so far, even though some of your scouts were tailing us.”

“Ah. That was you, then.”

“Yes.”

“Only returning the favor of you not shooting us in the middle of our assault.” Wolfe’s tone had calmed significantly; that Eidan wasn’t in danger seemed to make him loosen up a lot, in spite of what was going on. “You want to pass? To the castle? That’s a bit of a coincidence, Captain. We were attacking here to make it easier to get there, but we’re not sure what could be left there. Scouts tell the Revolutionaries broke in a while ago. The Black Helmet buggers, too. I don’t think you’ll be finding much left there.”

Black Helmets? “I encountered your daughter being hunted by Black Helmeted revolutionaries.” A little white lie.

“I thank you for saving her, then. Those guys are bad news, though if you’re from the Reich and you’re heading to the castle…it’s the Royal Family, isn’t it? That’s what you want.” Wolfe figured out quickly, as though he hadn’t already guessed.

“Is that going to be a problem?” You asked coyly; a hint of threat ready to leak through.

“I’m afraid it’s gonna be, Captain,” Wolfe said morosely, “But. Listen. I’m going to let you through, because I respect your cause, and your country. These affairs are Halmeggia’s though. The best thing for Halmeggia is if you turned around and helped me crush these Revolutionaries. I’m not planning on hanging the Royal Family or nothing; I quite like them, but if they’re to be in anybody’s hands, it has to be in the hands of the Guardians of Halmeggia. However. Because I respect you as a warrior…I’ll let you through. If you come back with anything though…you’ll either turn it over or I’ll take it from you. Although, I have a favor to ask, in addition to that.”

“Yeah?” this was going better than you thought, though this still wasn’t perfect; you wouldn’t have a safe way out through the Militarist lines like you would have liked.

“Let me talk to my daughter. I know she probably doesn’t want to talk to me, but…try. Whether or not I get to, you can go on to the castle, no problems. But let me hear Eidan’s voice.” Wolfe had gone from authoritative, to tired, almost pleading. “I’ve got a hell of a mess to clean up. As soon as we’re done here, if you’re not going to help us, I’ll reluctantly chase you down and defeat you. That’s just the way it has to be. But…if I can talk to my daughter, I’ll…give you a head start.”

>I can agree to that. Fine. I’ll make Eidan talk to you, and you’ll let us go north.
>Hold on. I think I deserve a few more favors than that. (Negotiate on what?)
>I can’t make her do that, and you know it. I respect that you’re letting us pass, but I’m afraid you’ll never catch me once I’m gone.
>Other?

>>3103096
>>I can agree to that. Fine. I’ll make Eidan talk to you, and you’ll let us go north.

>>3103096
>I can agree to that. Fine. I’ll make Eidan talk to you, and you’ll let us go north.

>>3103096
>I can agree to that. Fine. I’ll make Eidan talk to you, and you’ll let us go north.

I feel like we can get more out of this but my mind is blank.

Maybe just remind him that if he's coming after us then he's giving the order to put his daughter in the targets of his own people.

>>3103103
>>3103118
>>3103123
The terms of the deal are satisfactory. Also don't shoot your only daughter.

Writing.

“Alright. I can agree to that.” You said agreeably, “I’ll make Eidan talk to you, and you’ll let us go north. Is that how it’ll go?”

“You have my word.” Wolfe said resolutely. He said it as though it were a very serious thing to give, and you believed it.

“Though I want to say,” You toed the line carefully, “That if you come after us, your daughter’s going to end up in the sights of your own people. Are you sure you want to risk that?”

“It’s Eidan’s decision.” Gunmetal Wolfe said firmly, “If she wishes remain where she is, knowing that that’s a possibility…then I will respect that choice.” A moment. “You should start moving, Captain. My subcommanders are talented enough to grant me this space for talk, but we’ll win soon enough, and they’ll be looking north next.”

“Good luck.” You said, before closing communications. Well, here went nothing, you thought as you have the new orders to move north, for the castle, and whatever you would find there. Although, as everybody else passed, you had your driver, Lawrence, hold back, and went by the trucks carrying the infantrymen, where Wolfe was. You had to talk with her about this with as few people listening as possible.

It was a short stop, and Eidan Wolfe was quickly found, and transferred to your tank, to the usual place where ladies hitched a ride, and started going again. Fighting was still going on, and terribly close…but still none reached out to touch you. Wolfe was smaller than Winnifred anyways; she was easier to possibly stuff into a corner in an emergency. Much space was still taken up by munitions; no opportunities to free up space or lighten the load had been taken, with the result that everything was still quite snug.

“Lovely young lady, huh.” Wolfe snorted. “Was that supposed to be a dig?”

You blinked at Wolfe. “You were listening in?”

“Well, duh. I told you the frequency, why wouldn’t I? You were talking to my father.” Wolfe said, shielding herself from a particularly loud crack off to the right, which did little more than sound intimidating.

“So I suppose you know what I wanted to speak with you about.” You said simply. At the moment you were keeping in the turret; it was nice to not have to keep a particular eye out from the middle of the formation, and with the lack of radio traffic from battalion command, your present duties were quite light indeed, despite the current situation.

“Yeah.”

“So are you going to talk with him?”

Wolfe was still unsure, and her silence reflected that. “I know what he’s going to ask,” she muttered, “But…the problem is, I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t have much reason to be with the Aristocrats anymore. I was only doing it for him, and he’s…gone. Where I am,” Wolfe rested her head against the rim of the hatch, “I don’t think I have much a choice, do I? If I say I want to go be with my father, that’ll screw over the lot of you, even if you did let me go. I know that if I go over to him, I don’t think he’ll care as much about chasing me down, but then I also won’t be any good as a shield. I just don’t know.” Wolfe slid her head down a bit, “I hate not knowing.”

“Well-“ you started to say, but Eidan cut you off.

“Wait.” She held up a hand, “Before I do anything, I have to know. If I want to go…will you let me leave? I’m only one person. You could say the word and have me in chains. I’m not going to waste my time if I can’t leave, I’ll just tell my father I can’t come, and that’ll be that.”

>If you want to go, then I won’t stop you. Do what you think you should.
>Nah. You can’t go anywhere. Even if I thought you could be let loose, Alterwald or somebody else would probably snatch you right back up again. Gunmetal’ll have to be disappointed.
>What’s stopping you from just running off anyways? If anybody shoots you, your father’ll have their head. I think the better question is, what’s keeping you here?
>Other (Questions and such?)?

>>3103320
>>What’s stopping you from just running off anyways? If anybody shoots you, your father’ll have their head. I think the better question is, what’s keeping you here?

>>3103320
>What’s stopping you from just running off anyways? If anybody shoots you, your father’ll have their head. I think the better question is, what’s keeping you here?

I miss Anya's abs.

>>3103320
>>If you want to go, then I won’t stop you. Do what you think you should.

We need to be in that castle two hours ago, even speaking pragmatically Eidan best serves us in whatever helps expedite our efforts in the short term. Having Gunmetal's good will is worth the cost if it speeds us even a bit in the hope we don't find the royal family Romanov'd in a basement.

>>3103320
>What’s stopping you from just running off anyways? If anybody shoots you, your father’ll have their head. I think the better question is, what’s keeping you here?

But ultimately
>If you want to go, then I won’t stop you. Do what you think you should.

>Other (Questions and such?)?
Do you think what he's doing is right?
Do you think what I'm doing is right?

>>3103330
I miss them too, mein Bruder von einer anderen Mutter.

>>3103330
>>3103456
Oh God Anyafags. :p

>>3103459
You have nothing to worry about with me. The reason I like Anya is because she doesn't like Richter. One of the big reasons anyways.


You'll just have to put up with me gushing about tomboy thighs every now and then.

>>3103462
As long as you understand that Maddalyn is best girl and the one true waifu we won't have any problems.

>>3103897
I think tanq may have mind broken you with Maddy

True waifu for Richter? Absolutely, they deserve each other.

Best girl? She's barely ahead of Hilda

>>3103914
>True waifu for Richter? Absolutely, they deserve each other.
To me, that's the only thing that matters.
Their relationship is wholesome, and I prefer to think about character preferences when choosing which girls are "best"
That being said, Hilda is a VERY good girl and deserves to be happy.
Not that the OTHER girls don't deserve to be happy, but you know what I mean.

>>3103923
>That being said, Hilda is a VERY good girl and deserves to be happy.

See I agree with that to an extent but I question your sincerity. Because if people actually wanted that she wouldn't be as fucked as she is now would she?

I've only just caught up with PCQ during Luft and it was a bit disturbing how bad the playerbase is to her. And I get it she's self destructive and delusional half the time, but a Commander should take care of their crew. War is hell sure, but a less apathy and more giving a shit would go a long way.

The way I see it? The way to make her happy would be to get her away from Richter and find someone that actually cares about her. And I mean actually, no half measures.

>>3104046
Well the problem THERE is that the only way to make her truly happy is for her to get with Richter.
And we can't have that, cause Richter is for Maddalyn.
We invited this girl into Richter's life to inevitably become a miserable spinster.
This was a HUGE mistake in hindsight.
We've TRIED to get her with others and give her friends, but what she wants is to be with him no matter what. She's stuck with Richter now as an incredibly loyal follower, and she's too invested to be anything else.
To "get her away from Richter" would be the final nail in her coffin rather than a chance for her to...not be miserable.
But believe me if the opportunity came to lose her as a party member in favor of her running off with some dude and actually be happy for once, I'd smash that button in a second.
Although in that, there is a chase we might run into a problem where the new relationship fails due to her always thinking about Richter ANYWAY.
But that's a risk i'm willing to take.

>>3104104
>But believe me if the opportunity came to lose her as a party member in favor of her running off with some dude and actually be happy for once, I'd smash that button in a second.

As would I. Let's hope for that.

Hilda is a cute over-baked christmas cake!

>>3104192
She's also probably knocked up because players didn't bother telling her no directly.

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Hey guys, won't be updating for most of today, sorry about that in advance. I'll lock in the current choice, though.

Didn't think Panzer Commander mainline would come up like this, but hey, I'm not complaining. Interesting discussion and all.

>>3103923
>That being said, Hilda is a VERY good girl and deserves to be happy.
I should probably draw actual plot things but, eh.

>>3104462
Mmmmm, delicious flame grilled meats. The burger doesn't look half bad either.

Updates'll resume in a couple hours after lunch.

Also >>3104192 She's twenty two.

“Well,” you shrugged and made a plaintive shift of your hand, “If you took off and anybody, say, shot you, your father would have their head. Will I let you leave? I think a better question is, what’s keeping you here?” You added, “Do you agree with what either I or your pop’s doing? Is he doing the right thing? Am I? I think that’ll answer quicker what you ought to do.”

Wolfe half closed her eyes at you, frowning sharply. “I’ll say if I get a straight answer out of you first.”

“If you want to go, then I won’t stop you,” you said flatly, “Do what you think you should.”

“Hm.” Wolfe’s expression lightened, “That’s sort of the itchy bit, isn’t it. What I should do. Hmph.” Wolfe drummed her fingers on the inside of the cabin, peering dully towards the interior light shining dimly from above. “What I want to do is impossible. I want to go be with my father, sure, but I’ve got a ton of debts to repay. I feel like if I just go right over, I’ll be leaving everything unfinished.”

“I can guess at a few debts,” you admitted, “But you don’t have that strong an attachment to the Aristocrats, do you? It’s not like I’ll be offended if you follow your heart. I’ll just have to be careful not to run into any militarists so that when I have dinner at your house it won’t be awkward.”

“Hah.” Wolfe coughed, “No, it’s more like…I want to be wanted. That’s why I went over with Aiden.” Wolfe’s face fell, and she had to bite her lip and compose herself for a moment. “He’d been there all that time, and my father just sort of…popped up whenever he did. He said to do what I wanted, but I just got the feeling that…well, he didn’t actually care.”

“If he didn’t care he wouldn’t have asked to talk to you.”

“I know!” Wolfe hissed, “Of course I can tell that. It’s just that-“

“He does not know how to be a father.” Jalsen piped up from your other side. Your gunner wasn’t the most talkative sort, and neither was your driver, but something had made him feel the need to speak. “Do not blame him. The Judge Above knows that humans cannot be great in every way. It is why when we are judged, our deeds are weighted.”

“…Uh. Huh.” Wolfe didn’t seem sure of what to think about that, and she hunched over deeper inside. “I guess I don’t know how to be a daughter either…”

“Daughter?” Jalsen asked.

Somehow, Wolfe felt the need to be annoyed, despite surely being used to being referred to as a man for a while now; maybe she’d been hoping to throw that off. “Anyways. I guess…” She pawed at your head for your headset, “I guess I should talk to him. If you could give me…”

“Sure.” You took your headset and throat microphone off, and placed it on Wolfe’s head. “Press this here to transmit,” you pointed to the throat microphone, “Lean in more when you do, because that thing doesn’t like having wind blowing into it.”

-----

Wolfe’s conversation with her father was rather brief, and she didn’t say much, other than “Mmmhm”s and “Hmph”s and “Nnn”s; her vocabulary was reduced to grunts and hums, until finally, a few minutes later, as your formation continued speedily along, she said actual words.

“…Okay.” She sounded defeated, and unsure, “Yes. No…no. I can. Yes….yes.” She morosely stripped the headset off of herself and handed it back to you. “Captain. I know what you said, but I don’t think you’ll like hearing this, anyways.”

“Oh?”

“I’m going to go over to my father,” Eidan Wolfe declared, “I won’t just…leave and be done, though. I’ll do my best to make sure my father doesn’t chase you like he said he would. After all, I want to be with him, because he’s my family, but…I also want things to go back to the way they were before, and I don’t think that’ll happen…unless you complete your mission. Unless you save the Royal Family, or what’s left of them.” Eidan seemed stiff, apprehensive, as though waiting for a strike, “So, if I could just…be let off. I can make my way over to the Guardians of Halmeggia.”

>I was trying to be nice. You know I can’t actually allow that.
>Is there anything I can say to convince you otherwise? (What?)
>Alright. Good luck, then. You’ll need it in this country today.
>Sure. But not right now. It’s just too dangerous for you to run off alone; remember last time you did that, I got a hole in my leg. I don’t need any more of those. (Delay…but for how long?)
>Other?

>>3106935
>>Alright. Good luck, then. You’ll need it in this country today.

>>3106935
>>Alright. Good luck, then. You’ll need it in this country today.

Might as well inform Wolfe where to have his armored cars pick up his vip

>>3106935
>>Alright. Good luck, then. You’ll need it in this country today.

>>3106935
>Alright. Good luck, then. You’ll need it in this country today.
"Stay in touch Eidan."

>>3106943
>>3107028
>>3107307
>>3107329
Get your boyish ass off my tank and go home to daddy. Tell him not to shoot me.

Alright, gonna write, after I take care of something.

“Alright.” You accepted Wolfe’s implicit request, “That can be done. Let me just make my way to the tail end of our group here.” You switched your transmission to the tank’s intercom. “Hey, Lawrence. Slow up, we’re gonna be dropping off our guest.”

“Weh?” Lawrence chirped back.

“Why?” you repeated, exempting the Emrean territorial accent.

“Is crazeh, non? To ‘ear soosha zing. So weh?”

That was more words out of Lawrence than you usually got, so what could you do but reply honestly? “Eidan Wolfe wants to be let off, and we’re not only doing it because we’re nice people who accept the requests of ladies, but ‘cause she’s gonna tell her father and all his goons to not chase us down and kill us.”

“Hm. Oui.” Lawrence accepted quickly and simply. You supposed all he really wanted was some sort of explanation; after all, as commander of the company, you hardly needed to answer to the whims of lower ranked crew…though you were certainly ready to listen if there was issue.

So your tank crawled backwards, letting the rest of the formation slip up by it like a stream. You also ordered the Halmeggian infantry and armor forward, ostensibly because with wooded terrain approaching, you’d need their cover, but also for another reason; even if you wanted to let Wolfe go, there was no way that, should the Aristocratic Union know Wolfe’s identity, and somebody that knew her identity were among you (in all likelihood, Alterwald, personal croney of the Duke di Vitelstadt), she would simply be allowed to go free and join her father, especially when he, in all likelihood, would certainly not move to aid let alone join the Aristocratic Union without that particular card in their hand. So besides you and your crew, none knew what you were actually up to when you took up an impromptu scouting mission to the flank.

“Hey, Gunmetal,” you called up Eidan’s father again, “Your girl wants to come over to you, as I’m sure you talked about. I’m gonna let her go, alright? Be a family man. I’m dropping her off just north. I’m sure you still have your scouts tailing me; you can have them pick her up. There’s not a scratch on her, and I’m not planning on having any put on her between when I drop her off and you pick her up.”

“…I dunno what to say, Captain,” you heard Gunmetal reply, sounding utterly baffled. “I really ought to chase you down, for the future of the country, and all. But my folks told me to never pay a favor back with anything but something just as good, and I gotta be honest…I dunno if part of the future of Halmeggia’s a fair trade for my flesh and blood. I guess we’ll figure it out later, because I sure as hell don’t know what to do.”

You tried to chuckle lightly. “Does that mean you won’t chase us down?”

“Gunmetal” Wolfe, hero of Halmeggia, made a show of being hesitant. “…Means that for now, the Revolutionaries and Aristocracy are too strong to ignore in this initial scramble. Parliament and the Royals aren’t as much a threat. We’ll prioritize; we can pick up looking for the Royals, or what’s left of them, for a few days.”

“The Kaiser will know of your goodwill.” You said brightly.

“Ehh. Don’t mention it.” Was the famed war hero bashful? “There’s a reason you got dumped in here by air…that’s what Luftpanzer means, yeah? Don’t know how you did it, but that’s not how normal army gets here. You couldn’t get here any other way through the Protectorates, which means they’re blocking help here unless you do sneaky stuff like this. Way I see it, no matter how thankful the Kaiser is, there’ll be dark days ahead, Captain. I’ll just be thankful I have Eidan back.”

“The first of many bright spots, maybe.” Considering your current alliance with the Aristocratic League, maybe you shouldn’t have been wishing your enemy luck, but you couldn’t help it.

“Here’s hoping. Oh, Captain? One thing. If you don’t mind waiting a bit til you see my scouts comin’…I’d appreciate it. Who knows where there’s black helmets sneaking around, after all.”

“Course.” You replied, “Shouldn’t be a big delay.”

-----

You arrived at the place where you told Gunmetal you’d drop off his daughter, and with little fanfare, Wolfe hopped off, stroking the cord about her neck.

“Good luck, then,” you said to Eidan, lowering yourself out of the turret gingerly and trying not to land on the wounded leg; despite Winnifred’s stitching, it was still plenty hurt, and you hardly wanted to risk ripping it open again with Winnifred far behind. “You’ll need it in this country, today.”

“Is…your leg alright?” Wolfe asked lightly. “Since…well.”

“The pain keeps me awake,” you said haughtily, beaming your best mug like you were on the front page of the newspaper, “I’ve taken my share of knocks. Next time a fine lady takes off my pants, I’ll have another story.”

“Pff. Whatever.” Wolfe shook her head, “…Why did you come down here, again?”

“In case I needed to shoot anybody skulking around,” you said, going about and combing through the trees and brush at the small copse off a section of wood you picked as the dropoff point, “If you go back to your daddy dead then all this would have been for nothing, yeah?”

“I guess.” Wolfe touched about herself, “Uh. Is a pistol enough, you think?”

“I’m sticking around til you dad’s fellas come around here. It’s plenty.” You finished your brief search and leaned against the Luftpanzer. “So, uh, even after we part ways, let’s stay in touch, yeah?” Wolfe blinked at you, and you made a phone sign from your hand and waved it next to your ear. “Call me.” Wolfe was still puzzled. “Whenever you need somebody at the dinner table, you want to see a movie, just talk?...Booty call?” Wolfe squinted at you and her mouth parted slightly, like you were fading away into the morning. The joke wasn’t catching, apparently. “You have my radio frequencies.” Your tone turned halfhearted. “If you’re in trouble or whatever, just ring me up.”

“Oh.” Wolfe breathed a sigh of relief. “…Booty call? Do you speak to every woman that way?”

“Only cuties.” You grinned. Wolfe rolled her eyes. “Just make sure you tell everybody you’re not a man first, I don’t need any weird rumors going around.”

“Judge above, you pick now to be a piece of work,” Wolfe said scathingly, “…I appreciate it. All of it, I really do, that you’ve done. Not the stupid comments, though. Maybe I can help you out later like you’ve done for me…somehow.”

A shuffling from within the woods.

“Down,” you hissed to Eidan, before you put your hand on your pistol and drew it, before shouting back to the Luftpanzer, “Get ready for a fight, Jalsen!” Then, to the woods. “Show yourself, whoever you are!”

From above, in the trees, you heard a familiar voice. “What are you doing, dog of the Kaiser?” You looked up- it was Alterwald’s woman…her name was Vivi, you believed. She held her hunting rifle at her side, still, peering at you inquisitively from under her hood. “Out here with Eidan Wolfe, daughter of one of our enemies? You weren’t thinking of letting her go, were you? That’d be bad. Bad for Erwin…Lieutenant Alterwald. Bad for the Aristocratic Union. You know who she is, and you’re letting her go? You’re sure about that.”

“What exactly are you doing up there, lady?” you called to the tree branch, “Shouldn’t you be up with your boy toy, or is he hanging out around here too? Against orders?”

“I am Alterwald’s, not yours,” Vivi hissed with burning hostility, “He trusts you about as much as one should trust anybody from the Reich. Even if he can’t keep a proper eye on you, I’ve stalker far more potent game than you. So I’ll ask again. What are you planning to do with Wolfe? Because if it’s not handing her over to me, then you’re wrong.”

…Ah, crap. If Vivi was intending on turning this into a fight...man. You'd never hurt a woman in your life. Could you fight one off? Kill one?

>I don’t recall being beholden to Alterwald, let alone his girlfriend. Doing this keeps Gunmetal off your back, if you wanted a hostage, your superiors should have kept her away instead of giving her to me. Eidan is my responsibility, and she’s going back to her father.
>Who’s going to keep me from letting her go? You? Honey. You can’t take me on, let alone the tank behind me. Kindly piss off.
>How rude. We were about to have a romantic interlude. Unless you want to make it a ménage à trois, then you’d best leave before it gets steamy.
>Other?

>>3107805
>I don’t recall being beholden to Alterwald, let alone his girlfriend. Doing this keeps Gunmetal off your back, if you wanted a hostage, your superiors should have kept her away instead of giving her to me. Eidan is my responsibility, and she’s going back to her father.

>>3107805
>>I don’t recall being beholden to Alterwald, let alone his girlfriend. Doing this keeps Gunmetal off your back, if you wanted a hostage, your superiors should have kept her away instead of giving her to me. Eidan is my responsibility, and she’s going back to her father.

Unless she found the royal family out in a hole somewhere, we still need to be working together. The militarists know where we are and we already made a deal with them. The only thing going back on it now will do is waste our time shooting our way out without the element of surprise. Time we might not have for rescuing the royal family, the mission we came here for, in case she forgot.

>>3107805
Since she isn't pointing her gun at us we can at least try to fob this off.
>>Other?
Lie:
Why did you think it was so easy to pass by the Militarists? Why their tanks never shot at us, why their scouts went to parley? Why we had a secret radio channel to their goddamn Command?

We've been trying to make this trade since we left the Manor! I was told by your Duke to get this done in exchange for his help. Why would he send her with us otherwise!

So no this isn't *bad* for the AUSC, or bad for precious Erwin, it's the whole reason we're here!

So kindly run along before you get everyone killed either because the Militarists will think AUSC double crossed them, or when we go back and the Duke finds out YOU fucked the entire operation up?

>>3107805
>I don’t recall being beholden to Alterwald, let alone his girlfriend. Doing this keeps Gunmetal off your back, if you wanted a hostage, your superiors should have kept her away instead of giving her to me. Eidan is my responsibility, and she’s going back to her father.

>>3107864
Second. She's in way over her head and will blow everything if she doesn't remember her place. What could some huntress ever understand of intricate battlefield diplomacy, anyway? There's a reason we're the commander of the Reich's finest armored special forces company, and she's...well, her.

>>3107805
>>I don’t recall being beholden to Alterwald, let alone his girlfriend. Doing this keeps Gunmetal off your back, if you wanted a hostage, your superiors should have kept her away instead of giving her to me. Eidan is my responsibility, and she’s going back to her father.

>>3107864
>>3107805
I'll second this as well.

I am alive now. Camp is solidly in telling Vivi to fuck off, trying to bluff like in >>3107864 too; backing up a truth with a little lie, as it were.

Calling it, naturally, but give me a bit longer for this, I have a bad idea.

>>3108939
>I have a bad idea.
Ruh roh

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“Yeah, I don’t recall being beholden to Alterwald, let alone his girlfriend,” you shouted up to the small huntress, “Doing this keeps Gunmetal off our back. If you wanted to keep a hostage, your superiors should have kept her away instead of giving her to me. Eidan’s my responsibility, and I say she goes back to her father like she wants. Now how about you go back to the Lieutenant before he finds out you’ve been seeing other men?”

“Hostage?” Eidan repeated blankly, but she was clearly tensing up. Already, she reached behind her for her pistol, looking warily up at this, so far as she knew, new face. “Who the hell is this person?”

Vivi narrowed her eyes at you, but slung her carbine back over her shoulder, shoving her now free hand under her small cloak. “A completely unfair trade. I was told what you were talking about. About how you certainly could fight Wolfe’s army, but how you didn’t want to. You were given miss Wolfe to help your mission, not to throw her so carelessly back to the last person the Aristocratic Union would want her to be with! Are you a snake, planning to change over allies to whomever is most powerful? Is that the reason for this? All know that Kaiser Henrik is enemy to the old blood of the land. Your plot is of only minor convenience to you and awful for my allies.”

This huntress either came here already set on her plans, or was entirely too stubborn. You were stubborn too, though, and quickly came up with a lie while she had been rambling.

“Minor convenience?” you coughed out a harsh laugh, “What do you know? Why do you think it was so easy to pass by the militarists? We did it without firing a shot, hell, they sent out people to meet with us, we had a secret channel to their commander, do you think that just happened out of convenience?” The truth was less convenience and more a clash of coinciding goals, with you being the wild card that threw everything together the way it had been, but that was neither here nor there. “We’ve been getting ready to make this trade since we deployed! I do this by the authority of the Duke Di Vitelstadt, who is your leader, no? So I’m over your head. Now run along, before you muck everything up by making the militarists think your Aristocratic Union is double crossing them!” You threw your hand down theatrically, “Or do you think you, who’s…you, is better than the commander of the Reich’s finest armored special forces company?” Well, only special forces armored company. “What could you know of intricate battlefield diplomacy?”

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Vivi looked down at you, her glare ice cold, an unfitting look for her vivid green eyes but seemingly the well-practiced expression of a predator. She let her rifle slack across her back and dug her other hand under her cloak, standing on the branch in a way that seemed precarious but must have been second nature for how casually she did it. “I don’t know a thing,” she seemed to admit, but Vivi wasn’t saying it in a way that sounded like she was trying to negotiate. “I know what Alterwald wants, and that’s what I want. You can spin as many tall tales as you like, but I know why you were given Eidan Wolfe, and it wasn’t to do what you please with. She could serve as a hostage, or a fighter. Never as a gift. You’d think that would be obvious, given the circumstances. As for what you said earlier, about not being beholden to Alterwald…that’s true. But.” She jerked one hand down suddenly, “Your men seem quite capable. Your help is important, yes, but you, Captain? You’re replaceable.”

With that, she whipped her hand out, and you spied a long object arcing in the air towards you.

“Shit!” you dived behind a tree, and Eidan quickly followed suit towards another obstacle as the grenade exploded on the ground before you. It was a concussion sort; offensively designed, and not made to throw shrapnel about, judging from the lack of fragments that would otherwise be cracking to and fro. When you peeked around the corner again, Vivi was no longer where she’d been before. “Damn it all to hell,” you growled, as you cocked back the hammer of your sidearm.

You heard the steel door of your Luftpanzer swing shut; not Jalsen being selfish, but knowing that in the event of an unforeseen attack, the tank needed to be buttoned up before disaster struck. However, there was no way they’d know the nature of your current foe; who you hadn’t thought would be a foe merely minutes ago, but apparently any diplomacy with the militarists was enough to piss her off. Or Alterwald. This was all nuts! For now, you had to think about how to get out of this, though…

>You had to take care of this now, or else everything would fall apart. That would mean killing this woman, or maybe capturing…you’d prefer the latter, since you weren’t actually sure if you could pull the trigger on a lady if you didn’t have to, no matter how much a threat she was…[Fight]
>The only option was to flee. This terrain was Vivi’s element, and fighting her here was a fool’s game. How you were going to get away unscathed was another deal, though. [Run]
>Just hold out. Wolfe’s scouts would be here eventually, and no matter how fierce this massive bitch was, she couldn’t fight you, a Luftpanzer, and a scout section. [Wait]
>Other?
She’s very much aware of the fact that you have a tank. Presumably she thinks she can win despite that, whatever “winning” would be.
This delay was entirely too long.

>>3109621
How much side arm ammo do we have on us and with Wolfe?

>>3109625
Typically, you have one magazine in, and another in reserve. Both of your guns carry 8 rounds in their magazines, being as they're both Reich model; the perks of exporting to a country you then go and fight in. So you have 18 rounds total. That is, assuming Wolfe knows to keep a round in the chamber.

>>3109635
Both the *same* Reich model, that is.

>>3109635
Not really enough for any kind of pinning or covering fire action then.

How far away are we from the tank?

>>3109639
About ten meters, and a bit more. You're pretty close, really, but it's over relatively open ground to get there at points. It'd be a pretty quick dash, but a huntress probably has some experience shooting at moving targets.

>>3109641
Scratch that, more like fifteen. Not too much longer still, but eh.

>>3109641
Can Jalsen make it to us?

>>3109650
Your driver is Lawrence. Yes, they could drive the tank over to you.

>>3109621
>Just hold out. Wolfe’s scouts would be here eventually, and no matter how fierce this massive bitch was, she couldn’t fight you, a Luftpanzer, and a scout section. [Wait]

>Other?
This is gonna suck but if the Luftpanzer can, deploy smoke in the area. When it covers move to another obstacle but NOT back to the tank and have Jalsten move around. Maybe she has a fire bottle or something. Hell maybe allies.

Also yell out to Vivi that if she doesn't cut the shit were going to order Covacs to shoot Alterwald.

>>3109664
Sorry, Lawrence the driver to move the tank around

>>3109664
I was thinking that we'd use the smoke to get inside the tank, but opening the tank, even for a moment, is probably what she wants to happen huh?

>>3109621
>>Just hold out. Wolfe’s scouts would be here eventually, and no matter how fierce this massive bitch was, she couldn’t fight you, a Luftpanzer, and a scout section. [Wait]

Try to keep close with Wolfe to spoil any shots Vv might have, she probably wants her alive and won't risk her bleeding out. I would anticipate something like the tank moving to provide some hard cover for us which we can use to slowly move out of the area.

And by the Judge am I glad we didn't give Alterwald the good tanks, because when we get back to a radio I'm voting we expend some of our shaped charges.

>>3109664
As a reminder, you've got two different sorts of smoke; the grenade racks are a sort of smoke that you can at least run through with discomfort, the shells are white phosphorous, which is...white phosphorous.

>>3109621
>>Just hold out. Wolfe’s scouts would be here eventually, and no matter how fierce this massive bitch was, she couldn’t fight you, a Luftpanzer, and a scout section. [Wait]

I think we should get that tank moving as mobile cover. One of our main priorities right now is to find out where she is so we know what direction we need to keep and obstacle between us and her.

>>3109621
>>Just hold out. Wolfe’s scouts would be here eventually, and no matter how fierce this massive bitch was, she couldn’t fight you, a Luftpanzer, and a scout section. [Wait]
Use the coax MG to suppress her. The gunfire should attract the scouts to come faster.

I'm >>3109664

>>3109679
Does the operator need to be out of the tank to deploy either? If it does then never mind on the smoke.

Also I, at least, am not picking the white phosphorus, but I guess that's up to a vote. I guess.

Also backing >>3109675 anon's suggestion of covering Wolfe with our body. For multiple reasons.

>>3109711
>Does the operator need to be out of the tank to deploy either? If it does then never mind on the smoke.

They do not. The smoke grenade racks are activated by electric switch inside the tank, and the white phosphorous shell is fired out of the cannon.

I see a lot of people want to use the Luftpanzer to their benefit, which is a good idea to do when you have a tank right there, so long as you're sure there's nothing around that can deal with it. However, telling the tank and its crew what to do might not be as simple as shouting. They are inside a metal box, after all; their hearing is impaired thusly, so a dice test would have to be passed (not an unreasonable one but still).

>>3109715
I would recommend we send Eidan to run for the tank while we cover her with our pistol. Vivi seems to consider her to be very valuable to...whatever her and Alterwald's cause is, so I don't think she would just shoot her. Eidan can tell Lawrence to bring the tank around to pick us up

>>3109769
I support this

Rolled 41 (1d100)

With Vivi’s natural element being in this environment, and unwitting reinforcement on the way, you deemed it best to remain in cover, and wait, crouched up against the tree you’d scrambled to. It had forced you further from the Luftpanzer, but it was still decently close…though leaving cover was something you’d loathe to do. You had no idea how fierce a fighter this massive bitch was, but being described as a huntress probably meant she had enough experience with that carbine to not disregard her as a threat. However, eventually, Wolfe’s scout section would arrive, and there was no way she planned on fighting that plus you and your Luftpanzer.

“Wolfe!” you hissed to Eidan, who had tumbled off somewhere to your left. She had hugged the nearest tree like you had, and her pistol was firmly in her hand. A nick on her head was running a small stream of blood down her face; a promise already broken to her father, but oh well. When she looked to you, attentive and alert, you tried to speak only loudly enough for her to hear; you didn’t need Alterwald’s attack bitch overhearing this, though you had no idea where she was at present, so you didn’t have high hopes of keeping your plans secret anyways. “Get to my tank, and tell the loader to bring it around here to pick me up. Have him pop the smoke launchers, and suppress these woods with the machine gun.” You weren’t expecting to lay down effective suppression without knowing where the target was, but hopefully the sound of battle would bring the scouts around quicker. More than the grenade blast might have, at least.

Eidan gave an exasperated exclamation. “What? You want me to run there while that bitch is ready to shoot at us?”

“Me, not you,” you corrected, “She wants you alive, at least.”

That gave Eidan pause for thought. “…I’m not going to let you sacrifice yourself.”

“I’m not going to sacrifice myself,” you said quickly, though your leg was starting to protest from your sudden abuse of it; hopefully you didn’t need to leap around much anymore. “Oh, and hold on a second.” You cleared your throat, “Hey, you tree wench!” you shouted out to the woods, “If you don’t knock this off right away, I’m having your boy toy shot, you hear me!?”
If Vivi heard you, she didn’t respond.

“Going on three,” Eidan said back to you, “One, two-“

A soft metallic plenk came from beside you. You saved your swearing for when you were already leaping and scrambling away.

POOM. The shockwave blew around the other tree you’d taken cover behind, and annoyingly, you’d been driven further from the tank. You kept moving; Vivi had flushed you out, and there was no doubt she had you in her sights. It would at least distract from Eidan trying to run away…

A rifle crack sounded off to your right.

>Enemy attack roll, DC 50 roll under, degrees of success apply

>>3110503
Ouch

The shot wasn’t at you; it turned out. It was for Eidan.

Thankfully, when you snapped around to look, the shot didn’t hit her. She let out a yelp of surprise and glued herself to a tree closer to the tank, though it was clear that Vivi had pinned her down when another shot blew away a chunk of Eidan’s cover. You put your tree between you and where the shots were coming from; man, how would you deal with this, though? Who knew how many grenades Vivi was carrying? You could delay, certainly, but it was clear you couldn’t just sit around, else she’d find some way to flush you out. Your first two dodges had been a matter of luck, and this second dive had, annoying, reopened your leg wound. Next time you took a dive, you wouldn’t be getting up too quickly…

Damn it all.

>Vivi is distracted with Eidan. Maybe you should change your plan to one of attack? [How?]
>Remain hidden, in cover. If Vivi’s plan was to keep Eidan from reaching the tank, as long as she was distracted, you were theoretically both safe.
>Try to make your way over to Eidan, and the tank; one of you would reach the Luftpanzer, and once you had its help, you’d have the upper hand.
>Other?

>>3110513
>>3110513
>Try to make your way over to Eidan, and the tank; one of you would reach the Luftpanzer, and once you had its help, you’d have the upper hand.

>>3110513
Do we have a decent idea where Vivi is now that she has shot?

>>3110563
You have an okay idea. You're pretty confident that there's absolutely no way that she stayed in the same place after shooting, but she's still human and thus could only have gone so far.

>>3110513
>Other?
Maybe we can cover Eidan with our pistol by shooting where we think Vivi is? Long enough for her to make it to the tank,

>>3110513
>Try to make your way over to Eidan, and the tank; one of you would reach the Luftpanzer, and once you had its help, you’d have the upper hand.

>>3110513
>>Try to make your way over to Eidan, and the tank; one of you would reach the Luftpanzer, and once you had its help, you’d have the upper hand

>>3110595
Seconding this. If we try to go ourselves we're just going to get shot.

>>3110513
>>3110513
>Vivi is distracted with Eidan. Maybe you should change your plan to one of attack? [How?]

Our leg is garbage. Cover fire in the general area to get Vv attention. Mention how fucked she is when we don't come back from the back of the line. She's about to get every AUSC killed.

This is mostly just to distract her and get her emotionally invested in targeting

>>3111150
Us*

>>3111150
I support this but we need to anticipate another grenade throw. The faster we start moving after its thrown, the less time Vivi has to get her rifle back up. It's not much but its better than dashing when she probably has her weapon readied.

I am around

>>3110595
>>3110973
>>3111150
>>3111181
Covering fire. Also threaten vengeance.

>>3110852
>>3110953
Run to tank and Eidan

It's shooting time then. Writing.

Vivi was…somewhere off to the right. You weren’t sure where, but if you popped some shots off, you could potentially distract the bitch enough to help Eidan make a getaway. As far as you knew, while the Aristocratic Union wanted Eidan alive, alive didn’t mean she had to walk. Drawing the sharpshooter’s attention to you while your evasiveness was weakened might not have been the brightest move if self-preservation was a concern, but you could take a beating yet, you told yourself.

You fired a few shots off in the direction you’d heard the last shot. Pahk. Pajk. Pahk. A controlled set of three, though you knew you weren’t hitting anything. Even so, if you actually had her in your sights…

“Hey, bitch!” the second grenade had worn away any remaining attempts at decorum, “You’re about to bring the Judge’s hammer down on the Aristocratic Union, if you wipe me out and kidnap Wolfe! Fuck with the Reich, and you’ll regret it!”

No response, again, but another shot hadn’t come for Eidan to pin her down. You kept an ear cocked; from how Vivi was fighting, she seemed to put a lot of stock in grenades. The average soldier only carried one or two, but considering Vivi was certainly not a member of any actual military, her equipment was probably more privately sourced…which meant the grenades weren’t about to stop. Where had Alterwald found her? Regardless, that meant, so long as you were in cover from her, there was one telltale sound you could listen for…

Cleck.

The sound of the bottom cap of a stick grenade being popped off. She was to your eight o’clock; damn, she moved fast through those trees, and with nary a sound for it. She tended to not cook the grenades, you knew; if she did, then you probably would have been toast by now. Was she wary of handling them for too long in order to keep moving, or was she still thinking you might surrender? Either way, you had an idea of where she was…which meant you could act.

>Start moving now; you could close some distance, get an eye on her and stop chasing shadows, since she probably wasn’t shouldering her weapon right now.
>Whip about and try shooting as soon as you acquire her in your sights. The sound had just dropped, it was close, she’d definitely be there.
>Wait for the grenade. Then pick it up and throw it back.
>Other?

>>3111566
>Start moving now; you could close some distance, get an eye on her and stop chasing shadows, since she probably wasn’t shouldering her weapon right now.

Fucking move she knows exactly where are regardless if we shoot or not

>>3111566
>>Start moving now; you could close some distance, get an eye on her and stop chasing shadows, since she probably wasn’t shouldering her weapon right now.

>>3111630
>>3111768
Reposition- while you can.
Writing.

With your bum leg, this would be the best chance for you to reposition; and maybe get an actual angle on Vivi. Once you did that, you weren’t actually…sure, what you’d do next, but it was better than being blown up. Or shot. You waited just a moment, then took yourself around the tree, leveling your pistol upwards. Right where you thought she’d be, there was Vivi, getting ready to throw that damn grenade; you popping out early was enough to surprise her and spoil her throw, as she threw the grenade a fair bit too limply for it to be difficult to avoid her, and you heard her curse under her breath; you put another steadfast piece of woody foliage between you and the latest grenade, and aimed your gun, but Vivi turned about and sprang away, though her retreat was hurried enough for you to hear her shuffling, even after you covered your ears to shield them from the blast before it came.

Eidan was no doubt in the clear now, and you had Alterwald’s gunner on the ropes; you might be able to get away…now that your crew was most like better enlightened, but there was also opportunity here. If you let Vivi move freely again, there was no telling when you might slip up, or when she might manage to trap you, or if she pulled out a trick you hadn’t seen and managed to do something to your tank. While she was on the back foot, you could move on her…

>Pursue Vivi; striking while the iron was hot was the only real decision to take with this opponent.
>Try something cleverer; if Vivi lost you, surely she’d head for the Luftpanzer next. With her currently fleeing from you, you could try and set up a new ambush?
>Run back to the Luftpanzer; you had to get away, hopefully Wolfe’s father would understand your inability to make this rendezvous.

>>3111827
>>Run back to the Luftpanzer; you had to get away, hopefully Wolfe’s father would understand your inability to make this rendezvous.
We can't exactly chase after her with our leg.

>>3111827
>>Run back to the Luftpanzer; you had to get away, hopefully Wolfe’s father would understand your inability to make this rendezvous.

Hope for that smoke to drop. We gotta radio the team and let the Reich tanks what happened.

And maybe follow through on our threat.

>>3111831
>>3111837
Get the hell out of here; or try to. Don't tell anybody you're running away from a fight with a girl.

Writing.

Rolled 15 (1d100)

An opportunity; to escape, you thought, would be for the best. While Vivi was putting distance between the two of you, you’d happily help in adding to the spacing; and getting back to your tank. The first thing you’d do was demand Alterwald explain himself…or maybe you’d just have your men turn on the lot. So long as they believed your story about being attacked by Alterwald’s henchwoman. You’d have Wolfe’s backup, at least. As for finishing this fight…you didn’t like your chances. Hopefully Gunmetal Wolfe would understand why you had to call off returning his daughter, and he wouldn’t be too pissed.

Chuh-chuh-choof-po-poomf! The smoke grenade launchers fired off in turn behind you, and you began to double back towards the tank as quickly as you could go; which was a sort of goofy, stumbling hobble as you could make a full stride with one leg only to sort of crumple onto the other. The path backwards was taken between whatever cover you could spring between, though you didn’t hear any shots crackling at your rear. A blessing you didn’t question.

Through the smoke, the Luftpanzer billowed forward like a steed from fog in some fairy tale, and you waved towards its front, as its crimson headlamp illuminated the woods around you to proper brightness. You took a moment to relax as it came forward for you, but under the sound of the engine churning and the treads beating dirt, just above the sounds of continued battle from the south, you heard a slight Cleck. From overhead, you saw an oddly bulky object arc through the air…

Shit. A bundled grenade!

>Enemy DC roll under 50, degrees of success apply.

>>3111866
>Rolled 15 (1d100)
S-she's good...!

>>3111866
Wow really....

The bundled grenade landed neatly behind the turret of your savior to be, and a massive explosion only barely spared your ears as you clapped your hands about them. Your Luftpanzer II Fuchs lurched forward with the explosion, and ground to a halt only a few meters away from you. Thick, black smoke soon churned from aft of the turret; and in no time, the hatches were opening up. Jalsen pulled Eidan out of the turret, but while Lawrence was trying to get out of the front hatch, a crack from behind you sent him backwards with a grunt, and he flopped out of the hatch onto the ground, clutching at his chest and groaning.

That…that whore! That wretched, murderous…she was close, you knew. She had to be, in order to throw a heavy charge like that. You were familiar with what she was trying; it was a classic sniper strategy. Wound a comrade, and use that wounded man as bait. Hell if you’d fall for that…you saw red. Not just from the flickering crimson lamp of the Luftpanzer, but in sudden, pure, and violent anger that had pounced screeching up from the depths…

>Force it back down. You had to save Lawrence, what if she decided to finish him off?
>She was right there. You’d kill her.
>She had to be punished. She had to suffer.
>This was Alterwald’s fault. You’d make him pay; Vivi, you needed alive, in order to exact that vengeance.
>Other?

>>3111881
>>She was right there. You’d kill her.

>>3111881
>>She was right there. You’d kill her.

>>3111882
>>3111892
Take her out.
Writing.

You didn’t care that Vivi was a woman. You didn’t care that she had been your ally up til now, she had wounded Lawrence, and you weren’t a man who took that lying down. Not tonight, not again. You whipped around the tree and saw her; she’d been taken off balance from throwing that bundled grenade so far, it seemed, as she was still swaying, and when she snapped her eyes to you her hateful glare told you that she already knew what your plan was before you even raised your pistol…not that she wasn’t already trying to raise her own gun to shoot you. But that wouldn’t happen.

Six shots in your weapon. You’d expend every single one of them.

>Roll up to 3 sets of 1d100, averaged, DC roll under 70.

Rolled (1d00)

>>3111907

>>3111910
I wonder what that dice looks like

Rolled 81 (1d100)

>>3111907
>>3111912
Sorry bout that.

>>3111916
Wow the dice gods really want us to die here huh.

Rolled 46 (1d100)

>>3111907
ok nevermind, i guess ill have to see what i can do here

Rolled 78 (1d100)

>>3111907

>Roll Average 68: Success

Damn, but Vivi was still a quick draw. She raised her gun to her shoulder, and you thought you peered down death for a moment…but your draw was a hair faster. One shot hit Vivi in the shoulder, and her aim was jerked ever so slightly away as her gun fired, and you felt the round barely nick your ear. Her eyes flew open in shock; those vivid, lovely green eyes…a part of you really didn’t want to do this. It wasn’t the part in control, though.

Two. Three. Four. Vivi shuddered with each shot you plugged her with, and with the fifth shot into her chest she tumbled off the tree and landed heavily onto her back, her carbine flying away from her. She still struggled to rise, her eyes full of fury and hatred.

“H-hrrk!” she spat, as blood erupted from her mouth, and she rolled onto her side, “F….ffuck you…”

One shot left. It was shocking that Vivi had the energy to throw insults; most people shot five times would stay down. You weren’t sure how much longer she had left, though; except for the first one, all your rounds had hit center mass. In spite of her defiance, you could see the little woman trembling. She did her best to continue to appear ferocious, but by the moment she looked more and more pathetic.

>Finish it
>Make demands; maybe she could save her precious Erwin if she cooperated.
>Other?

>>3111940
>>Finish it
Don't think we have the ability to treat her anyway and still better than letting her bleed out.

>>3111940
>>Finish it
Lawrence is currently bleeding out, our leg wound is open, our tank is on fire, and the militarist scouts we're meeting are going to want an explanation when they get here. I don't think we have time for whatever we could conceivably get out of her.

You considered maybe letting her have better last words, making a request…but you couldn’t treat her if you wanted to. Your leg was throbbing and you felt your blood running out of it, Lawrence was wounded, your command tank was burning, and when Wolfe’s men got here, they’d want an explanation that was sure to be a pain in the ass.

No words were exchanged. You merely took a couple of steps forward, pointed your pistol at Vivi’s heart, and shot her one more time. After all this…you still couldn’t bring yourself to shoot her in her face. Maybe you were soft. Maybe you were getting better. You didn’t know; you only lingered long enough to watch her chest rise and fall with one last, struggling gasp at life. With that last wheeze, you weakly heard, “…Er…Erwin…I…”

Maybe Alterwald would be happy to hear his dog died with his name on her lips.

-----

Once more, you felt very, very tired. The smoke from the grenade launchers still wisped about in a dense fog, mixing with the oily black smoke of your tank burning. Maybe if you could reach the fire extinguishers, you could save it, but the engine was surely destroyed; and that was if you wanted to risk it, against what all training had advised. Your crew certainly had hightailed it away. Jalsen and Eidan had dragged Lawrence away with them, and you saw Jalsen doing his best to treat Lawrence; you saw the medical kit by him. Did he dive back in to get it, you wondered.

Eidan looked at you, a desolate expression on her face, as you collapsed beside her, not even caring that doing that sent shocks of pain up your leg. You needed to sit now.

“She’s dead,” you said blankly. “I need a fucking drink. Jalsen. Will Lawrence make it?”

“Ah’m non sou week,” Lawrence said in a rattled tone, but he wasn’t in a position to have an opinion on his health.

“It could be worse,” Jalsen said lowly, “The Judge is merciful, and Lawrence shall be able to further work to mend his sins…”

“Judge above, if that’s so, you can stop with the kooky benediction.” You sighed, looking over. “Sorry Lawrence, but you’re out of commission, at the least. If we’re not wrong and you don’t end up dying.”

“Ah nou intend tuu.”

“Good attitude to have.”

“If I hadn’t chosen to go back to my father…” Eidan hugged her knees to her chest; it was an unusually feminine gesture for her. “This wouldn’t have happened. I’ve really messed things up for you, haven’t I. She stared at the ground. ”I didn’t think anything like this would happen. I guess…I didn’t think I was that important, despite everything. That this little thing…would be okay.”

>You haven’t messed anything up. I’m the one who said you’re going free, if anybody had a problem with that then something like this was a risk. I regret nothing.
>Damn straight things are messed up. I honestly don’t know what I’ll do, but whatever I come up with I know I’ll need you and your father’s help to do it. So pay me back that way.
>I live to make ladies happy. I’m sure Lawrence agrees. Everything’s fine, I’ll just find a new tank. Wouldn’t be the first time tonight.
>Other?

>>3111985
>>Damn straight things are messed up. I honestly don’t know what I’ll do, but whatever I come up with I know I’ll need you and your father’s help to do it. So pay me back that way.
Not trying to be cold but things are definitely screwed up right now.

>>3111985
>>I live to make ladies happy. I’m sure Lawrence agrees. Everything’s fine, I’ll just find a new tank. Wouldn’t be the first time tonight.
>>3111987
All we really need to do is complete the handoff, get our hands on a new vehicle and radio, and deal with (i.e. shoot) Alterwald before he can cause more trouble or find out his pet is dead. Not an insurmountable set of challenges.

>>3111997
Dealing with Alterwald means dealing with the entire force though. Also remember Winnifred is back with the other Aristo infantry platoon. Since I doubt she had a radio let's keep the charade up for now.

>>3112006
Not if we can get him to come to us alone. Maybe bluff and let him think Vivi convinced us not to turn over Eidan and we want to discuss what to do with her with him? We might actually want to arrange this with him before we turn her over so she can pretend she's being held hostage and help us fool him. Then we turn her over and cap Alterwald when we meet him.

>>3111985
>You haven’t messed anything up. I’m the one who said you’re going free, if anybody had a problem with that then something like this was a risk. I regret nothing.

>>3111985
>Damn straight things are messed up. I honestly don’t know what I’ll do, but whatever I come up with I know I’ll need you and your father’s help to do it. So pay me back that way.

>>3111985
>You haven’t messed anything up. I’m the one who said you’re going free, if anybody had a problem with that then something like this was a risk. I regret nothing.
>Though I could probably use you and your father's help to figure this out.

I go to sleep and you guys just resolve the fight without me.

I just really hope Alterwald didn't try anything else with the rest of our guys.

>>3112656
I don't think he knows yet. But we can't delay in our retaliation.

Even just isolating his unit from the rest of the convoy to give us time and a reasonable justification for why Vivi was taking so long to report in.

This is of course assuming the Militarists scouts don't just capture us.

Hey guys, sorry I haven't said anything about it, bit I've been occupied today and will continue to be for likely the rest of the day. I'll probably be able to update late today but otherwise today's a blank, sorry.

>>3113584
trip would be good to remember

Rolled 2 (1d2)

Alright, let's get to it, then.
...Well, I'd like to say that, but I'm going to roll off between harsh and gentle here, 1 for former, 2 for latter.

It was hard to smile right now, but you had to try anyways. The most you could do was crack it open slightly. It was too tiring, in a way, to go further. Almost halfway, you told yourself, like you were on a drill march meant to destroy unfit recruits trying to qualify for the Fallschirmjäger, the end’s just up there, just have to go on a while longer and you’ll get there. One couldn’t help but wonder if the others in your unit felt the same, or if you were uniquely afflicted.

“I live to make ladies happy.” At least your cheery tone wasn’t damaged yet, by some miracle. A good act could make up for a crappy costume. “I’m sure Lawrence agrees, don’t you?”

“Haha. Prefer no utu do ee zis weh.”

“See?” It was either good or very bad that Lawrence was taking his wounding in stride. “Everything’s fine, I’ll just fine a new tank. It wouldn’t even be the first time I had to do so tonight. You haven’t messed anything up. I’m the one who said you’re going where you like, if anybody had a problem with that, then something like this was a risk. I regret nothing.” That last part wasn’t really true, but there was no space for your moping right now. The only person who had died because of this, you didn’t really want to think about.

Eidan sighed heavily. “You can say that, but I just don’t think I can make up for this.”

“I could use you and your father’s help to figure out what we do next,” you offered.

Eidan blinked, put her hand on her chin, and made a contemplative grunt. “…Well. I guess I don’t actually know the whole scope of the problem. That woman wasn’t dressed like any sort of soldier, not that woman are able to be frontline fighters…or that uniforms really mean much right now. She didn’t have any radio, though, so nobody would know what happened here unless they went back and found her body. It was also just her, and not…say, all of Alterwald’s tanks. She was somebody they could send who wouldn’t be noticed gone.”

“They intended to keep this in the dark,” Jalsen assumed for Eidan as he affixed a pack of sterile gauze to Lawrence’s wound, the Emrean now being made to sit up so it could all be tied about.

“I still can’t imagine Lieutenant Alterwald will be happy that he lost his pet,” you said, raising your hands, “We can’t just ignore this and move on.”

“Well, no,” Eidan scrunched up her face, “But I don’t know what else you could do, unless you wanted to make yourself an enemy of the Aristocratic Union.”

“As much as I think blowing Alterwald to pieces would be a good course of action,” you tried to tone things down from the simplest plan of action, “We could just request him by himself and arrest him, I suppose.”

“Over the radio?” Jalsen said, with Lawrence groaning as the wound binding was pulled upon tightly, “Were I him, I would flee after this. Then we may have the whole of our friends ready to wipe us out. We’re out of radio range of most. Killin’ them now’ll be easier, and we could return with none the wiser.”

“You return with none of the Halmeggian troops you came here with?” Eidan pointed out dully, “That’d be at least a little suspicious.” Jalsen shrugged in response.

“…Seems we might have a few more voices to weigh in soon,” you rose as you spied Gunmetal’s scouts, who had been trailing in your dust for God knows how long, finally roll up and stop.

A head poked out of the turret of one of the armored cars, adorned with a dull green field cap; the look on said head’s face was incredulous.

“What the hell’s going on here?” he demanded, rising further out of the turret to inspect what was before him, “Who are you? We’re here to pick up Wolfe’s daughter, and don’t none of you look like that.”

“I am Wolfe’s daughter!” Eidan complained, in by far the girliest tone you’d heard out of her, “Eidan Wolfe!”

The sound that came out of the boyish woman’s mouth shocked the scout trooper enough that he slipped on something in the turret and tumbled back into it, before rising again disheveled. He straightened his cap, spluttered something to himself, and hoisted himself out of his vehicle before coming forward. You hadn’t seen that particular sort of Halmeggian field cap, but otherwise, the Militarist’s uniform, and lack of any particularly distinguishing markings, made him indistinguishable from his Aristocratic Union former army regular counterparts. The gears began to turn in your head. Was there something here?

The armored car commander strode up and peered at Eidan closely; with her helmet off and her hairpin set in her chestnut hair, she was much more womanly than normal…though you supposed that her actual normal depended on how much was being tied down under her tunic.

“’s not exactly what I was expecting,” the militarist admitted uncertainly, “I guess you are close enough to a girl…” He looked over at the tank, still smoldering, and pointed to it. “That belong to you guys?”

“Yup.” You said morosely.

“The hell happened?”

>A professional disagreement. Could I bother you for a ride to my people for my good behavior?
>I saved your Gunmetal’s daughter from my own “allies,” I’m sure that entitles me to a few favors from your boss.
>Nothing of your concern. Do you have a radio in one of your cars? I need to borrow it.
>Other?

>>3115399
>I saved your Gunmetal’s daughter from my own “allies,” I’m sure that entitles me to a few favors from your boss.

>>3115399
>A professional disagreement. Could I bother you for a ride to my people for my good behavior?

>>3115399
To hell with it, changing my vote to
>A professional disagreement. Could I bother you for a ride to my people for my good behavior?

Let's get this show on the road

>>3115399
>You hadn’t seen that particular sort of Halmeggian field cap, but otherwise, the Militarist’s uniform, and lack of any particularly distinguishing markings, made him indistinguishable from his Aristocratic Union former army regular counterparts. The gears began to turn in your head. Was there something here?

Should we be worried? Maybe we should take Eidan to the side and ask if she's seen that kind of cap or if scouts have that kind of uniform.

>>3115399
>A professional disagreement. Could I bother you for a ride to my people for my good behavior?

with an addition of >>3115611 asking Eidan. I might just be being overly cautious but just the way that part was written rang some warning bells.

>>3115449
>>3115551
>>3115640
Here now writing for Professional Disagreement. Also I called a cabbie. Also ask about the uniforms because you're fashion conscious and need to hop on the latest trends.

“A professional disagreement,” you waved a hand, as though dismissive of this fight for your life. One of many, when you thought about it, no? Though it usually wasn’t so personal. “Could I bother you for a ride to my people for my good behavior.”

The armored car commander stared dumbly at you. “…I…guess?” He scratched his head. “A professional disagreement…whatever. As long as you’re handing over Eidan Wolfe.”

“A moment on that, actually,” you grabbed Eidan by her arm, “Just going to discuss something real quick. And totally not have a goodbye macking where nobody can see us.”

“Judge above, shut up,” Eidan said testily, and tore her arm from you, only to drag you off, a bit too quickly for you to comfortably keep up on one leg, so you had to sort of hop sideways after her. Once you were away from everybody else, you cleared your throat to start asking your question.

“So, about-“

Eidan didn’t let you finish as she wrapped her armed around your neck, pulled you down, and kissed you on the lips. You were so surprised you froze for the solid two seconds she wrapped her lips around yours before she pulled away.

“...You work awfully fast, don’t you?” you squinted at Eidan. Maybe if this was the first time this sort of thing happened to you you’d be at a loss for words, but this might have been the third or fourth.

Eidan flushed red. “Well, you saved my life. Twice. It’s what I’m supposed to do, isn’t it? If I don’t give that goodbye macking now, you’ll just leave with nothing.”

“I was kidding when I said that.” You were being bent over by Eidan tugging you down by your neck, and your relative apathy looked like it was pissing Wolfe off a bit.

“So?” Eidan frowned, her eyebrows tilting down. “Besides, I owe you another.” She leaned forward once more, eyes closed.

This time you were ready, and you caught Eidan’s nose between your fingers. Just like you’d had to do with Linda more than a few times.

“Aghk,” Eidan recoiled, and let you go.

“Save it.” You said, still holding her nose. She was certainly well frustrated now; hopefully she wasn’t the sort of woman who got more stubborn about this when she got pissed off. Like Linda. “I have an important question. Those guys out there, they’re normal Halmeggian army, or used to be, yeah? What’s up with their caps?”

“Dat?” Wolfe peeked around the tree to look back where you came from; more difficult than normal, since you were still punching her nose. “Oh, Dat’s jus border garrisob ubiform. Id does’b really mea abythig special.”

“I see.”

“Let go of by dose, won’d you?” Wolfe swatted at your hand, “Roub two. Nod sayig id meas abythig. Just whad’s right. C’moh. Pucker ub.”

>No. Your breath stinks, I’d rather trade it for something else. [Her breath doesn’t actually stink]
>If you insist. So long as you’re serious that it doesn’t mean anything.
>Nothing personal, but the way you’re going about it reminds me too much of somebody else. So I’m gonna have to refuse.
>Where I come from, saving a life is worth more than a peck, you know.
>Other?

>>3115886
>>If you insist. So long as you’re serious that it doesn’t mean anything.
(It's totally meaning something, at least a little bit) Wolfe's cute!

>>3115886
>Nothing personal, but the way you’re going about it reminds me too much of somebody else. So I’m gonna have to refuse.

>>3115886
>If you insist. So long as you’re serious that it doesn’t mean anything.

If we are gonna tonight we are doing it after getting as many smooches as possible.

>>3115886
>>Nothing personal, but the way you’re going about it reminds me too much of somebody else. So I’m gonna have to refuse.

>>3115886
>>If you insist. So long as you’re serious that it doesn’t mean anything.

>>3115886
>If you insist. So long as you’re serious that it doesn’t mean anything.

I'm back around.
>>3115904
>>3115989
>>3116030
>>3116047
I GUESS you can eat my face.

>>3115923
>>3115999
Slightly reluctantly.

Writing.

Admittedly, you had to think about it. Normally there wouldn’t be any question; no hesitation, no need to do anything but shrug your shoulders and go for the kiss before she could even think about initiating, especially if, as she claimed, there wasn’t really anything behind it beyond reciprocation for favors. The way she went about this, though…it reminded you of Linda Falkenstein. Hell, Wolfe probably was as old as or younger than Linda was. It wasn’t as if Wolfe was some schoolgirl you were stealing the first kiss of or something, but it still felt slightly…off, because of that resemblance of her behavior to the girl you’d seen more as a cousin or a sister for much of your life. Falkenstein wasn’t your father, but he very much was a mentor, at least when it came to the more positive aspects of your skillsets. Of course, you’d do anything for his daughter…except the thing she wanted most from you.

“Led go ob my dose,” Eidan complained.

“If you insist,” you said with mock annoyance, throwing those cares to the wind. Eidan wasn’t Linda, in spite of resemblances. “So long as you’re serious that it doesn’t mean anything.”

“That’s better.” Eidan licked her lips and yanked you down again. It’d have been rude to kiss her back, given what the apparent agreement was, but the way she bit softly on your lower lip made you wonder if she wanted you to. She also held on for a lot longer than last time; much as it betrayed the spirit of accepting this, you couldn’t help but think that, deep inside, she was torn to pieces. Somebody she’d been close to since childhood had been erased from her life earlier that night. Was it callous to move on to another person that same night? Maybe. Though, her former beau couldn’t do anything for her anymore. She had nobody to turn to, to fill that emptiness. Her heart, in its own way, you thought, was a mirror of yours.

Yet you weren’t going to stay in Halmeggia. You wouldn’t be able to stay here and occupy that space she wanted filled, your place wasn’t here. She was going to go to her father, and you were going to get out of here as soon as possible. So no matter how furiously she tugged on your lips, no matter how she moved as though to beg you to escalate, you stoically kept still.

“Hah,” Wolfe gasped as she tore herself away, before looking into your eyes; a few locks of her hair had fallen into her face, her hairpin having come a bit loose. “…I sort of expected you to…y’know…”

“We are in the middle of battlefield,” you pointed out, as a far off volley of machine gun chattered like freezing teeth.

Eidan slumped back against a tree, but kept her gaze on you, eyes half closed, “I know. But I want to…forget everything that’s gone on tonight…” she wrapped her arms around herself, “My whole past’s ready to just…blow up in smoke. It hurts to remember, to think about it, to see where it’s going and gone. I just want to find a new life and have that be my new…everything.” She tugged on the red cords about her neck steadily, while letting her eyes fall downward. “I want to have everything I lost back, and I want it back now. I guess I can’t do that though, huh.”

“…How old are you?” you asked.

“Nineteen.”

Shit. Younger than Linda, even. At least she wasn’t that girl who turned out to be sixteen. “Don’t take things too fast,” you said as though you were an old man and not just as much a child compared to so many, at twenty four, “There’s a future yet for you. Don’t have to spring for the first sleazebag that makes your girly bits tingle.” That really wasn’t advice you shared often, but there was a big difference between Eidan and lonely bar floozies looking for a good time.

Eidan bit her lip and looked off to the side. “Shut up.” Her expression softened, “…To be honest, I didn’t really care who it was. As long as it was somebody who cared about me.” As she was looking off, she must have seen something that got her focused on the situation at hand again, as her face firmed up again and she thrust herself off the tree. “I guess we should get back to that. You’re the commander of your group, they’ll be hurting without your presence.”

“They’re good enough to handle themselves for a while,” you brushed off the concern, but started to follow Wolfe back. “…By the way, since you were playing yourself off as a man, you were binding your chest, right?”

“What?” Eidan put a hand on her chest. “Oh. Yeah.”

“Thank God.” You smirked, “So since the jig is up, why are you still suffocating them? They yearn to be set free.”

“And you call me impatient,” Eidan huffed, “Come on.”

-----

“All good,” you told the skeptical looking armored car officer; a couple of his fellow crew had disembarked, and one was even sharing his canteen with Lawrence. The atmosphere had turned from caution, to curiosity, save for their leader who was started to get impatient, understandably.

“We’ll have to cram you lot two to a car. It’ll be tight, but that’s the way it is.” The recon lead gestured to the two vehicles that made up the section. More accurately, we’ll cram one each to a car, while the other sod’ll have to hang out outside. I’m not forcing Wolfe’s daughter to hang on for dear life, and a wounded man shan’t go through that either, so we’re already figured out, yeah?”

“Nice to know you got so much done in my absence.” Twas the price for getting to have Eidan kiss you twice, you supposed. “I need to use a radio, so our people don’t blast us away when you deliver us. That all right?”

The officer shrugged. “Won’t find me complaining about not being blasted away.”

You smiled. “Great. Will only be a minute.”

After climbing into a vehicle and finding the radio; it wasn’t hard, these were Reich designed armored cars, and you were familiar with your own country’s vehicle pool, you quickly turned the frequencies to the right places and called for your company’s attention.

“Hey boys, miss me?” you said cheerily.

“Captain! Where the hell have you been?” Covacs demanded coldly, channeling Colonel Talmeier, but you cut him and the others off immediately.

“My ankles’re itching,” you said murkily, “Damn biting fleas.” A not so subtle call to change to the alternate channel; the channel Alterwald knew nothing about. After switching to said frequency and accounting for platoon leader presence, you told your story; how Vivi had attempted to interdict the dropoff, and how she had attempted to kill you when things hadn’t gone her way, as well as how you’d plugged her dead. Finally, you shared how you would be rejoining them by way of militarist courier.

“Judge above,” Fischer said quietly, “Our allies are far from fully behind us, it appears.”

“No shit,” Covacs said, “But of course they aren’t. We’ll have to be more careful.”

“Or we hit them before we hit us.” Schneider said.

“Nah, nah, I’ve thought about it,” you quieted everybody, “Here’s what we’re going to do.”

>Divvy up our Aristocratic Union boys among you. Once you’re all in position to do so, wipe them out. Make it brutal and quick, it’s the same they’d do in our position.
>One set of you, get up behind Alterwald. By the time I get up to you guys, I expect his platoon to be made of burning wrecks. Don’t worry about capturing him.
>I want you people to summon Alterwald to you, and take him prisoner. He’s the one at fault, I bet; not all of these AUSC.
>I’m going to switch back to our normal net and share all this with Lieutenant Alterwald, and see what he has to say for himself. Be ready for anything.
>Don’t do anything yet, and keep mum. We still need to work with the AUSC, and we can handle this in a more diplomatic way.
>Other?

>>3116616
>>Don’t do anything yet, and keep mum. We still need to work with the AUSC, and we can handle this in a more diplomatic way.
We still kinda need their numbers to help us storm the castle.

>>3116616
>>Don’t do anything yet, and keep mum. We still need to work with the AUSC, and we can handle this in a more diplomatic way.

If the castle has been stormed then we will need them. Our story will be that we were ambushed by an unknown assailant but managed to get away when the scouts arrived.

Once the AUSC infantry has done most of the hard work storming the castle then we plug Alterwald and disarm/destroy the rest of the AUSC. Hopefully AFTER they've mustered back into the trucks to sail away.

I'm betting Alterwald is going to try and speed off with the Royals or some such treachery but he must realize he needs us as much as we need him right now and hopefully delay until we get away from here.

>>3116616
>Don’t do anything yet, and keep mum. We still need to work with the AUSC, and we can handle this in a more diplomatic way.

>>3116616
>>Don’t do anything yet, and keep mum. We still need to work with the AUSC, and we can handle this in a more diplomatic way.

>>3116631
>>3116644
>>3116646
>>3116673
We need them as much as they need us; but they'll be first into the meat grinder.
Writing.

“Nothing.” You finished your statement. “We won’t do a thing. Keep mum, keep calm. We still need to work with the AUSC, and we can put off handling this til later. We still need them their help if the castle’s been taken by the Revolutionaries.”

“Rather,” Covacs corrected, “They’ll help us by leading the charge.”

“That would be appropriate,” Fischer agreed, “A fair trade for the attempt at backstabbing.”

“Admittedly, not all of them seem like they could be in it. Sergeant Dohdt, for example.” Sergeant Schneider said.

“His personality could be an act,” Lieutenant Covacs warned, “After this, we’d best not trust any Aristocratic Union people.”

“Alright everybody,” you cut off discussion, “Let’s just keep this all in mind, and get back on the other net. If we stay on this too long our friends’ll get antsy from the quiet.”

There was also, unmentioned when plotting what to do with your temporary allies once you were through with them, that Winnifred Von Lowenkreuz was with another section of Aristocrats, as were the mechanics of the field workshop. Though you were out of reliable radio communications with both HQ and the Aristocrats, as far as you knew, there was still weak and intermittent comms, and if word got out of any hostility towards the AUSC…maybe Talmeier could toss you under the bus for the good of the mission and the unit, but Owl 3 would certainly be captured. Again. Though you trusted that she wouldn’t betray secrets easily, since you’d taken responsibility for her as your subordinate, you felt an obligation to protect her, her status as a woman reinforced by her status as a comrade. So you had to be careful about how you did this.

Though not so careful that a hefty portion of your spite failed to crash upon Alterwald. Owl 3 postulated that he was likely from Strossvald; you knew little about the Archduchy, and wished you had studied it a bit now to give you some insight into this potential opponent. Ah, well. You’d never heard of Strossvalders failing to die after being shot, so there was probably nothing to worry about.

Your Luftpanzer continued to smolder, uncertain of whether or not it should explode mightily as fire reached the ammunition. Proper procedure was to scuttle a tank properly so an enemy couldn’t use it, if one were forced to be abandoned, but you didn’t have time to see if the tank would stop burning or not, so you were forced to leave it as it was. As you were all loaded up, you looked wistfully back to your mount. You’d seen and heard of many old war sites where the materiel of battles past still inhabited the fields they once did battle in, even places from the Emrean War where tanks rusted out in pits. You wondered idly how long this small remnant of your presence here would remain, in silent memory of your crusade.

-----

Soon enough, you were delivered to your company; specifically to Sergeant Schneider. How you’d handle getting yourself and your crew a new tank was awkward; as well as where you’d find a new driver even if you got one, since while Lawrence seemed stable for now, he was absolutely not fit for battle. Technically you weren’t either, but you were a stubborn son of a bitch, no offense to mother. You’d all have to hang out atop Luftpanzers, out of combat. At the very least this was a calmer task for Schneider to continue his impromptu education in tank platoon command.

“Well, here we are,” you said shakily, still clutching tightly to the side of the armored car. The whipping wind from riding outside in late autumn made you sorely nostalgic for the jacket you’d left with Winnifred. “Thanks for the ride.”

“It was nothin’,” the section commander said dismissively. “…What? Oh. Hey, hold on a second…whatever your name is, Reich person. Wolfe’s daughter wants to give her regards.

“Regards?” you said wearily, your head clearing. “Alright.”

The scout commander ducked off to the side, and let Wolfe up. She was right in your face, and when she saw how tightly you were holding onto the car, a sly look spread across her face. She put her hands on your shoulders and shot forward, with you unable to let go of the car, you were unable to prevent her from doing what she would.

“Mmm…” She hummed as she kissed you again, “…Mmwaah…” She drew back with a shit eating grin, and tapped a finger on your nose. “Now you owe me. Don’t get killed before you can pay me back, you hear?”

“Judge above,” you let go of the car and grunted as you landed too heavily on your leg. Again. God damnit. “Get the hell out of here.”

You rubbed your leg as the militarist armored cars sped away, and your own Luftpanzers came to pick you up. Pay her back. What a cheeky girl.
“Oh, I’ll pay you back, alright,” you muttered- though not grumpily.

----

Rolled 63, 50 = 113 (2d100)

Schneider was, naturally, your new mouthpiece for your orders, as well as your fresh ear. Hopefully, you thought, he’d be fine with such and not ask too many questions and thus delay matters.

“They’re not happy about it,” Schneider told you, hanging out the back of the turret, “But they can’t say why they shouldn’t head in first. They’re the infantry component, after all, and Alterwald is their commander, and Doht also under his leadership. So Alterwald and the Halmeggians are set to punch their way in.”

“Great.” You sighed, actually enjoying not having much to do, in spite of how uncomfortable a seat you occupied. “So you relay what I want the rest of us to do?”

“Establish a perimeter.”

“Right, right.” You said lazily, “Especially toward the militarists, who are the most relevant threat.” A perk to the unwitting make out session with Gunmetal’s daughter; you likely didn’t have much to worry about from his people anymore. So long as he didn’t get any fresh ideas of making you his son in law. You shared…part of that motivation. That he’d let you all off easy for returning his daughter, not that she had been macking on you in the trees.
Meanwhile, the loss of your tank had been blamed on “unknown assailants” when a proper update was sent to your allies. Alterwald would have to be mentally deficient to not guess at what had happened, but if he was working alone, this kept his allies in the dark. It also didn’t reveal that you had killed Vivi, in case Alterwald wouldn’t appreciate that.

The pace slowed as you finally closed with the castle, and Dohdt reported initial contact with Revolutionary troops; but not many of them. Black helmeted and dark vested, indeed, as Wolfe had hinted at hearing, but they evaded contact with your people. Dohdt reported only a few at a time, and as the Halmeggian riflemen dismounted their vehicles and made their slow approach forward, they ceased encountering enemies on the way at all.
Quiet, and more quiet from ahead. Then suddenly, like a cloudburst in sunshine, a storm of fire poured from the direction of the castle, which was promptly responded to with even more fire.

It had begun.

>Rolling one against the other; this’ll be a simple matter of them attacking directly into each other, degrees of succ apply, so the rolls reflect how hard they hit their enemy. Former are the Revs, latter are your AUSC people. AUSC gets a bonus of 15 due to armor support, which helps them break in as well as suppress positions, even if it’s not too useful for interior fighting. Luftpanzer Eins are ideal for attacking fortifications with their 10cm cannons, but, well, I guess Alterwald shouldn’t have provoked you.

“Any reports?” you asked Sergeant Schneider after a few minutes of combat.

“Well,” he said, trying to both listen and report what he’d heard at the same time, “They’re saying there’s not many of the black helmets they saw earlier; and where they were, they left and were replaced by normal Revs…Alterwald’s saying they’re close to making a break through, but they want help from us, if we can spare it…I think that was supposed to be sarcastic. Says his infantry’s taken heavy casualties, and that he’s appreciate some…Fallschirmjager fighting spirit once they’re inside the castle itself, if possible.”

>He shall have jack and shit. Tell him to keep going with what he has, the enemy can’t have much fight left in them if they’re pulling their elite troops out.
>Fine. We can release a platoon to help them make the break in, but nobody’s following him in. We’re tankers.
>I suppose we’ll have to help them, then. It hardly helps if they get slaughtered or flee because we didn’t stiffen their formation, does it. We’ll have to help break in and clear the place.
>Other?

>>3116788
>Fine. We can release a platoon to help them make the break in, but nobody’s following him in. We’re tankers.
>Other?
Eins to hit towers, have the other Reich platoons moving about to make it seem like we're positioning for an outside counterattack. Just in case.

He can't blame us for leaving tanks unmanned to do his infantrys job.

Also I'm not thrilled that it's only his men inside the castle, but hopefully they themselves are not in on it.

>>3116788
>Fine. We can release a platoon to help them make the break in, but nobody’s following him in. We’re tankers.

>>3116788
>>Fine. We can release a platoon to help them make the break in, but nobody’s following him in. We’re tankers.

>>3116788
>Fine. We can release a platoon to help them make the break in, but nobody’s following him in. We’re tankers.

I am here.
>>3116792
>>3116796
>>3116809
>>3116994
We only play outside. Writing.

Rolled 5, 8 = 13 (2d100)

“Eh,” you cocked your head and pursed your lips; you’d hoped to have avoided getting involved at all, but if you didn’t help, then it would be plain what your intentions were. That, and you only held a particular grudge against Lieutenant Alterwald; his hapless charges did not share in your enmity. However, they were all under his command; and as the proclaimed personal flunky of the Duke di Vitelstadt, there was no doubt that his sub-commanders would follow his will, whatever it was. You had no clue how good Alterwald was, but he was certainly better than most Halmeggians, at least, such was your impression. “Fine. We can release a platoon to help them make the break in, but nobody’s following them into the castle we’re tankers, after all. Have either 1st or 3rd platoon take it, whoever volunteers. The other can make a show of repositioning to…the east. Make us look scary.”

“Whoever volunteers?” Schneider echoed. “…So third platoon, then.”

You smirked and nodded, and let Schneider do your job for you.

Though you didn’t like your now impartial role on the field, it admittedly was good for your head. The popping and booming was soon newly joined by the distinctive blast of Ein mortar cannons, and the huge explosions of their ordinance. While 1st platoon presumably moved from west to east, though, 2nd platoon’s three tanks remained still. They were all carrying passengers for now, after all, and you couldn’t be stashed away out of reach of a radio at a time like this.

>Rolling same as before, AUSC second; the Ein support is letting matters skip straight to interior fighting; the final phase, where the enemy either holds out or is forced out. Both sides ate it pretty heavily at the start, so there probably won’t be much left walking around depending on how it goes. The AUSC infantry teams have a penalty to their cqc; they’re, to be frank, not as good at fighting like this, so they have a penalty of 10.

Rolled 98 (1d100)

“…The Revs slipped away, they’re saying like.” Schneider reported to you, “I wonder why. That castle’s already a good defensive position, and the interior halls are the sort of place you could really make assaulting a pain in the ass.”

“…Because they don’t have any reason to stay.” You said darkly, “Get us up there. I don’t care if the aristocrats haven’t cleared the place yet, I have to see what’s inside that damned pile of rock.”

-----
It must have been the tenth time that night you landed heavily on your wounded leg, but you didn’t care. It had been hastily bound back up again, and in the state it was, it wouldn’t matter how much you abused it further. Owl 3 would have the same amount of work to do again. You appropriated Schneider’s submachinegun as well; your own was tragically burning in your old tank, or if you were less fortunate, sitting idly in a cooling but intact hull. An escort unasked for formed around you as you limped for the castle. Jalsen, you could understand, but Sergenat Schneider really didn’t need to spring out of his Luftpanzer with his crew to back you up. He could come along if he liked, you supposed, though you already had a dark suspicion of what you would find.

The AUSC infantry officer of this platoon, Lieutenant Svewehn, who had kept rather quiet until now, was suddenly with you and barraging you with a casualty report.

>Stivale platoon took approximately sixty per cent casualties in the attack; the following dice is determining percentage of fatalities or mortal woundings. The other percentage is normal wounds or otherwise light damage.

>>3117639
>98% fatalities of that 60%

Christ

>>3117652
And they said it would be suspicious if we didn't come back with any AU units.

>>3117639
With the amount of casualties taken, maybe it would be a good idea to bring up the other infantry platoon to reinforce.Which also means we don't have to worry about recovering Owl 3 and the mechanics.

“We’ve been torn to shreds, captain,” Svewehn was a slight and bony man, and what would normally be drawn features were even more haggard. “It’s a good thing they didn’t want to do more than shoot a couple of times in the castle, or we’d have been finished for sure. ‘Cept one guy, everybody who took a shot either died right there or aren’t long for the world…we’re down by more than half. We’re not set to attack anything anymore…Don’t think we can do anything anymore.”

Almost complete fatality rates? Judge above, you didn’t recall the Revolutionaries being that good of shots. Was it the Black Helmets? Or was the average Halmeggian soldier just that inferior? “Rearrange what you have left into two or three groups when we head out.” You said back in a clipped tone. At the very least, compressing their numbers into fewer trucks gave you your own vehicle, which would free up 2nd platoon for action again. “You don’t have enough people to search the place and pull security, do you?”

“No.” Svewehn didn’t bother explaining further; the look in his eyes wasn’t one that wanted to speak any more, but he’d have to do one more thing for you.

“Go over there to those tanks,” you pointed towards Schneider’s idle platoon, “Tell whoever’s there to get the word to the rest of my people to get over here. We’ll try and form a tight perimeter, but we won’t be staying long or too close together. This place is probably zeroed right in by arty, and it’s our dumb luck that we haven’t been shelled.” Not entirely accurate a statement though, you presumed to yourself. If your earlier supposition to Sergeant Schneider had been accurate, then the Revolutionaries had no further reason to hold this position; and no reason to waste ammunition bombarding anybody who wanted to take it, either. Their shell reserves might not have been deep enough to strike frivolously; otherwise they would have tried hitting you earlier, or hitting Wolfe’s offensive south. “Have Alterwald and Dohdt secure the north.” You’d seen that Alterwald’s tanks had been barely scuffled; the brunt of losses had been entirely upon the infantry. Thus while the AUSC compliment had indeed been weakened, Alterwald himself hadn’t really suffered for it at all. You had hoped that wouldn’t have been the case. Damn him. He could earn his salt fighting off any potential counterattack…were it to come at all.

“Lieu-tenant!” You heard a thickly accented Halmeggian voice call, “Lieu-tenant!” A dirty faced soldier, his green uniform now stained with mud and filth ran up, and saw you. “Uh, you de Reich people?”

“I’m the commander of this whole lot.” You said, “Anything you were gonna tell him, you tell me.”

“Uh.” The man’s face was incredibly pale, under all the grime. “You’re…you’re gonna wanna see dis, den.”

-----

Walking through the halls of the castle, it was hard to believe it was once an opulent house of royalty. The exterior hadn’t seemed too heavily damaged, but the interior was a charnal house. The walls tumbled over themselves like spilt entrails, they were so rent apart by bullets. It was difficult to take a step in some places without putting a foot on a body, either the dull uniform of a revolutionary or the rich blue of a Royal Guardsman. The latter had certainly put up a hell of a fight; wherever you went that there was fighting, it looked as though the end of the world had come for how devastated the surroundings were. There was more than one place where the tiles were slick with blood, and gore oozed up from carpet when a boot pressed upon it. The sight, and the smell, were unbelievable, and your nose and mouth were stinging from the intensity of the stench. All about were but ruin and butchery, with only fragments of the place Castle Delamil once was betraying its beautiful past. Shining bits of dismantled furniture, shreds of paintings, dust entombed delicate linings to pillars and walls.

“Judge above…” one of Schneider’s crewmen kept muttering under his breath. Your escort had to stop and rub his eyes a few times along the way.

“In there,” he pointed off to a door; it looked to be to an underground level. Beside it, a Halmeggian soldier was doubled over, vomiting. You could hardly blame him, but the horror to your senses wasn’t on your mind at the moment. It was what would be down in those lower levels.

There, on the barren floor, lit by bright lamps and flanked by grand rows of little wine casks, lay a pile of bodies. There was no mistaking what it was, but you had to be sure.

“Fuck me,” Sergeant Schneider swore, and he had to lean against a wall of casks while you went forward, hobbling ahead of your stunned escort. All of them had been stabbed multiple times, and their clothes had been torn apart, in a search for valuables, you presumed; there was no jewelry on any of them at first glance. A frail man, another man who was quite fat, a woman, a girl, and a boy. When you turned over the man and opened his eye with your fingers, a brilliant gold eye stared back at you, lovely even in death.

“…Fuck.” You could only sputter as you fell back on your ass. This couldn’t be real. “Hey,” you said weakly to your people, “Don’t just stand there with your thumbs up your asses, go up and get one of those Halmeggians. Surely they know their royalty.” Maybe this was some branch of the family; some random relatives. They could be anybody for all you cared, as long as Dolcherr’s death hadn’t meant…nothing.

One of your men dragged down the sick soldier from above and questioned him roughly.

“…Y-yeah, that’s…the king, and queen, the king’s brother…Princess Alexandra and Prince Maron.”

Impossible. That wasn’t possible.

“That’s them!” The soldier insisted, “Why the hell would I lie? Right there, that’s-“

You slugged him in the jaw with all your might; the man hit the floor limp, out cold. You needed a drink. You needed to kill somebody. You needed to just rip apart everything around you…

A haggard cough, from the corner.

“Who’s there?” you growled, your voice uneven, “Show yourself!” You drew your pistol, letting your subgun hang from your shoulders by its sling as your other hand lifted an electric torch, and walked to the dark corner; in the darkness, among another clump of bodies, these ones in the blue garb of the Royal Guardsmen, one of the executioners had gotten sloppy. A guardsman sat slumped against the wall, his chest coated in his blood, breathing weakly.

“…The Reich…” he looked up at you, managing to smile somehow, “You came…” He didn’t sound angry, or displeased, though you didn’t believe he couldn’t be either.

“…Yeah.” You said bitterly, holstering your sidearm. “We did. For what it’s worth.” Nothing. “What’s your name.”

“It doesn’t matter,” the guardsman coughed, “I’m already dead. You, you’re Captain Roth-Vogel, the man with the scar on his face…Captain, the King is dead. But…” his next words were so quiet you couldn’t hear them, and he steadily closed his eyes, as though going to sleep.

“Hey!” you demanded, darting forward and shaking the man by his shoulders, “Wait! What were you…going…to say…” Nothing more came from the man, though, and you stood back up, your teeth grinding together.

“Captain…” one of Schneider’s crew came up from behind. You turned around and stormed past him. “Captain! What do we do now?”

“I don’t give a shit!” you shouted at him, “Fuck off and leave me alone.”

“Captain,” Schneider objected, and grabbed your shoulder, “You can’t-“ You whirled around, swinging your fist, but Schneider jumped backwards just in time to avoid it. “Captain Roth-Vogel!”

“I said, fuck off!” you roared at your men, “Or I swear to the Judge Above, I’ll beat you so bloody you’ll never walk again!”

Nobody bothered you as you dragged yourself back upstairs. Another Halmeggian tried to get your attention as you went outside; you folded him in half with a fist to his gut. Maybe now they’d get the message, you thought as you hobbled, alone, towards the woods. You needed to be by yourself- away from the war, away from the castle, away from this shithole country…anywhere but here. Deep in these woods would have to do.

Something inside called upwards from the pit of your heart; it was your duty to return, to guide your men out, to find anything that could be left, to not lose hope…but it was a faint and distant voice, and one you didn’t like the tone of anyways. Were it that you could punch the bearer of that voice too.

“Come on then,” you muttered to yourself, submachinegun held tautly in your hands, “Come on, you Revolutionary bastards. I’ll kill all of you. I’ll eat your hearts. I’ll…I’ll…” You weren’t even angry anymore. All you were was tired. Head empty, limbs heavy, even if you found any enemies…you weren’t sure if you could do more than bellow at them. You weren’t dying, you were pretty sure, but all your energy had evaporated, once you saw the Royal Family dead on the floor.

A rustling to your left; you wanted to whip about, to bring your gun to your shoulder and make ready for your final battle, but your body didn’t want to. You merely shuffled in place, turning steadily towards the noise, gun staying at your waist, and not even pointing the right way.

Before you was a cloaked figure; you turned your torch on, and shone it at them. It was a pale woman, with long, auburn hair, and…

File: lpq_scene26.png (347 KB, 800x590)

347 KB PNG

“You…” she said, her voice soft, smooth, angelic, like a stream of honey… “Who…are you?”

>I’m here to save you. I’m late, and I’m sorry for that.
>No time to say anything. Grab her, return to the unit; you hadn’t failed yet.
>Who are you? This isn’t a good time to be a stranger in the woods.
>Other?
If you can remember her name, she might trust you more.

>>3117847
>>Crown Princess Edelina?I’m here to save you. I’m late, and I’m sorry for that.

>>3117847

>>3117849
this
I totally didn't forget, heh

>>3117847
>>3117849
Ladies and Gentlemen.
We got em.

>>3117849
>>3117847
+1

Well that went to shit

“…Crown Princess Edelina?” You asked wearily. You’d never seen her picture; you merely guessed, though somehow, you wanted to think you knew. “I’m here to save you. I’m late, and I’m…sorry for that.”

“Save me?” the golden eyed princess blinked; they were so bright, with the luster of true gold, that they almost glowed. “…Ah…you are of the Reich. I see.” Her voice was…enchanting. You still weren’t certain that this figure before you was real, even, but the sight and sound of her proved…healing. Her golden eyes flicked to your leg. “You’re hurt.”

“It’s a scratch.”

“It’s terrible,” the princess knelt down to look at it closer, “I saw you limping. Do you need help walking?”

“Pff. Nah.” All of your dread, your fury, your exhaustion, it had evaporated. It was as though you were floating on a cloud. Extremely puzzling with what you walked away from; “What are you even doing out here?” Part of you didn’t want to question it, but another wanted to ensure this wasn’t an illusion. “It’s dangerous to be a person like yourself and walking about alone at a time like this.” You also weren’t sure whether to share the news of her family. Edelina probably didn’t know, you wagered.

Edelina’s eyes closed as she stood straight again. “It matters little to me. If somebody wishes for me to not have a place on the throne, then so be it. I came out here to look for my brother, Alexander. He is a headstrong and rash young man, and second to I in the line of succession. He is my brother, but…” she frowned, “I fear he is as unfit for the duties of rulership. Perhaps moreso than I. He chose to sally forth with a band of guardsmen, and I tried to dissuade him, but he could not be convinced otherwise. After I departed, I found myself unable to do more than run and hide as the fighting grew fiercer…”

From what happened inside the castle, her brother probably saved both of their lives; if he was still about, that was. You had to have hope in that; were he still alive, the amount of the royal family you’d return safely to the Reich would double; and thus would the sacrifice be doubly valuable.

“We’ll look for him,” you reassured her. Perhaps better to not be told the fate of her family…yet, at least. Not out here. “We have to get back to the rest of my people. Come on, now, let’s hurry back. We can walk and talk. Quietly.” Hurrying back wasn’t actually an option for you, of course, but you turned about and went on nevertheless. Hopefully Schneider would forgive you for taking a swing at him.

“…Wait.” The crown princess said softly. “What were you doing out here? By yourself? The Kaiser did not send only one man.”

A thorny question, with only one real answer. Short, and to the point. “I was looking for you, I guess.” You answered simply.

“I see.” The princess accepted, “…Very well, then. If you will escort me, sir..?”