AN: For those interested, I'll be turning this into a full story, and posting this first chapter soon. That said, I can't promise regular updates. I hope you'll enjoy this story!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Star Wars movies, TV series, books, comics, or games. I don't own Youjo Senki/Tanya the Evil. They all belong to their respective creators and/or copyright owners. I make no money from this story. It's not for sale or rent.
The Devil's Disciple
=TDD=
Chapter 1: Headhunters
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Part 5
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205th Aerial Mage Company HQ
Rhine
In a modern, saner military, there would have been more questions, perhaps even some opposition to your commanders happily declaring you'll all walk to your death tomorrow. In the Imperial military, the Aerial Mages, who were some of the best of the best? Almost everyone received the news with stoicism, which in turn made Tanya wonder why was she letting such trivial things as emotions influence her, again. She shifted that thought to the back of her mind so she could focus on something productive, like finding a way to survive this new brand of insanity.
At that point, Colonel, General, or whatever rank he really had, Veiel, the bastard, looked straight at her as if he was reading her thoughts. Again, something flashed through his dead eyes, and a hint of what might have been a tiny smile appeared on his face.
"Let me demonstrate that I'm not about to ask you all to commit suicide for the Fatherland," Veiel announced loudly, immediately silencing all whispers.
The Colonel's eyes glimmered with a hint of mischief and for a brief moment, Tanya could have sworn that they glowed in malevolent orange color. Then darkness fell, turning the tent pitch black. For a single moment, she could hear dozens of exclamations, and one particularly loud squeak that almost certainly came from Visha, before the sound cut off abruptly, leaving her alone in something similar to sensory deprivation. She clutched the frame of her chair, struggling not to over-react. Nevertheless, a defensive film formed around Tanya while she acted on instinct. She couldn't see but certainly felt magic surging all over the tent while many other officers did the same.
The all-encompassing darkness vanished as abruptly as it came, and the morning's light that replaced it hurt Tanya's eyes. The exchange was abrupt enough it made her gasp and she wasn't the only one.
"Was this proof enough that I know what I'm talking about?" This time there was no mistake, Veiel's eyes glimmered with boyish mischief, while he studied the unsettled Aerial Mages.
"This was no magic!" Tanya was the first to recover. She surged to her feet and pointed an accusing finger at Veiel, heedless of how inappropriate this was. He had to be Being X's agent or something sent to make her life even harder! That was the simplest and most logical explanation!
"According to whom?" The smug bastard interrogatively raised an eyebrow. "I'm reasonably sure we will succeed in the infiltration part of Operation Headhunter. The complicated part comes afterward…"
At that moment, Tanya knew, the odds of getting out of this one just became nonexistent, which was just 'great'. This way, instead of being shot up or plastered by enemy artillery while slogging through the no-man's land, the Republican forces would instead have the opportunity to properly surround them, cut them off and destroy them through overwhelming numbers and firepower. This wasn't the kind of silver lining she cared about!
=TDD=
Early next morning the storm was back with the vengeance, even though this might have been its death throes. It certainly didn't feel that way to Tanya, who along with a few hundred Aerial Mages slogged through the no-man's land. This was pure hell, especially for someone with her small dimensions overloaded with all the equipment of an Aerial Mage. If it wasn't for Visha, Tanya wasn't sure she wouldn't have fallen into one of the countless shell craters, now chock-full with water and mud, primary mud, and drowned.
All around her, Mages from two Battalions and attached support Companies slogged through, or in some cases crawled through the cold, sucking mud. It didn't help that they were all surrounded by Veiel's unnatural darkness, even though this time around they could actually see, if barely.
None of them could hear and it was surreal, especially with the freezing rain constantly hammering them. Yet they kept going forward, for the Empire, Fatherland, or a prosperous, hopefully, safe and warm future.
The torture continued for what felt like an eternity and at one moment Tanya was about to collapse, unable to keep dragging all her hear through the mud when a pair of big strong arms grabbed her under the shoulders and heaved, pulling her forward. She barely recognized the wet form of Sergeant Schones, her senior and most experienced NCO, who dragged her ahead without a word. Tanya nodded in grim gratitude, while mentally cursed Veiel and High Command for creating and approving this exercise in slow suicide.
Eventually, the miserable Mages converged on a small section of the enemy defensive line, something signaled by lines of razor-wire, which had neat strips cut into. Even as exhausted as she already was, Tanya noted that this would funnel them into what could be easily described as a perfect killing ground. Some mines, a few heavy machine-guns and mortars, the enemy wouldn't need artillery to slaughter most of them…
Another army might have paused then and there, re-evaluated the merit of going forward and sensibly scurried back to the safety of their lines. The Imperial Mages on the other hand? They kept pushing with grim, fanatical, and suicidal determination. It was commendable really, or it would have been if they weren't marching towards certain death. Any moment now the enemy would open fire and slaughter them!
Any moment now!
Sergeant Schones kept dragging Tanya forward and to her stupefaction, they reached the first line of Republican trenches unopposed. When no enemy fire came their way, the leading elements continued to crawl forward. They soon vanished over the edge, followed by more and more soldiers. Eventually, the large NCO dragged Tanya into the trench, where they paused for a brief respite.
The Second Lieutenant looked warily around and her eyebrows raised when she saw the defenders trampled into the muddy bottom of the trench. Schones had deposed her practically on top of a young Republican soldier who had his throat sling open, and obviously never saw his death coming – the sheer surprise on his face was proof enough.
Tanya looked around and all she could see were the dark, wet walls of the trench, packed with tired Imperial Mages. It was a good thing really, that she couldn't see the at least company platoon of defenders who were below their feet. She was almost certain that all of them had their throat slit and never saw it coming. What the hell was Veiel and where did Being X drag that Devil from?!
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Part 6
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Republic lines
The Rhine
The storm was bad enough, the muddy hell it caused throughout the bombed-out Imperial territory now held by the Francois Army was worse. For maximum frustration, even well designed and built trenches resembled small rivers or lakes at best, mud pools you could get stuck into at worst. The only 'better' places were certain elevated positions stuffed with sandbags, usually holding machine-gun nests. Lieutenant Andre Bisset found himself stuck in one such position, glumly squinting into the night. All he could see, all anyone could see were the sheets of rain hammering the no-man's land. Trying to cross it in force, to even send some of those infamous Imperial Stormtroopers would be insane – they were as likely to get stuck or even drown as to get close enough for the Republican army to shoot them all to pieces. Actually, attempting an assault in this infernal weather? Pure insanity.
Yet, there Andre was, standing on high alert, warily watching for the slightest sign of motion that wasn't the rain. Someone either slipped through their lines over the past few nights, or was already on their side of the front, to begin with, and they went on a rampage murdering division command staff or so rumors and fragmented communication claimed. That's why, the young Lieutenant and his men were on high alert, manning much smaller section of the front than usual. The same was true all across the line and apparently, it wasn't mere paranoid precaution. They could all hear the Hun's artillery hammering in the distance and Andre pitied the poor bastards on the receiving end. He was just glad that so far everything was calm on his part of the front…
Bisset shuddered in his wet uniform, mentally cursing the Hun and their warmongering ways that brought him and his countrymen out here, in this muddy wasteland. It was getting even colder and he was sure that in a few days at best, there would be a lot of sick soldiers, and pneumonia was nothing to joke about! Andre shuddered, wanting nothing more than either a hot drink, warm bed, and a cigar to warm him. Until the weather cleared, there wouldn't be warm beds fro anyone on the front, his cigars were too wet to be of use anytime soon, though he might be getting a cup of coffee, which might even be drinkable, soon. In fact, he could already smell it and smiled.
"Caron, my friend…" The Lieutenant turned to smile at his XO and froze in shock.
There was a man in the machine-gun nest carrying a cup of steaming coffee, in fact, there were two of them, each holding a metal cup. However, neither of them were Republic soldiers! Andre opened his mouth to scream a warning but no sound came out. To his horror, he found he couldn't move anything but his eyes and could only stare at the apparition, that took a sip of his coffee.
The strangers were Imperial Stormtroopers – complete with their metal breastplates, covered by harnesses loaded with equipment. They had no business being here, obviously, and even stranger, one of them didn't appear to be wet at all. That man sipped his coffee again, Andre's coffee, damn him, and looked at the Lieutenant with glowing demonic eyes.
At that point, the field phone rang, and even as horror dawned upon Andre he found himself glad about the timing! He wouldn't be able to answer and Command would know their lines were breached so they could get those bastards!
The glowing eyes bore straight into Andre's soul and he felt indescribable pressure building within his skull. He heard someone screaming as if they were dying torn by artillery and only distantly noted that the agonizing voice sounded like his own, oddly enough.
Lieutenant Bisset stumbled, idly noticing he could move again and felt something warm on his face. His arms spasmodically grasped for the field phone and his face contorted into rictus grin – he was about to raise the alarm! Andre picked up the phone, dutifully listened to the questions coming from the other side, then calmly answered in a bored tone that sounded perfectly normal to his ears.
"Our sector is secure, sir. Only mud and rain, no one could get through the no-man's land over here." Andre couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth. He wanted to scream, yet now he couldn't. "We'll remain vigilant until relieved, sir!" His mouth promised earnestly and he put down the phone.
"You can rest now, soldier." A stranger's voice echoed in his mind and the world tilted around. Andre stared at the back of the machine-gun nest, seeing more Imperial Stormtroopers and even Mages filling up the trench, then he knew no more.
=TDD=
Tanya found herself gasping for air and leaning on a trench wall. She could hear again, though the sounds coming from all around her were distant and distorted. Without using magic, just crossing the short blasted hellscape between the front-lines was more than enough to take everything she had and then some. She knew that without Sergeant Schones and Visha, she would have never made it this far. The prospect of continuing without the aid of her magic giving her additional strength and endurance was frankly terrifying! This was one of the few times, Tanya had to outright admit to herself that she couldn't possibly go on – even if the mind was willing, the flesh was weak.
She was too busy gasping for air and wondering how dignified would be to ask the Sergeant to continue carrying her, because there was no turning back now when a tall, dark figure loomed over her. Tanya slowly raised her head and dully stared at the architect of her current woes, who looked back with a hint of concern then shoved something at her. It took Tanya a few moments to figure out that it was a metal can mostly full of hot coffee… How did he get that over here, in that weather no less?!
"Sergeant, the Lieutenant here is an important asset. Make sure she makes it to the point where she could safely use her magic." Veiel told Schones, then walked away, practically melting in the twilight.
Once again, Tanya felt like screaming obscenities at the man, yet she carefully held the offered coffee in a death grip and gingerly brought the cup to her lips. Things were about to get even worse from there on, she just knew it! Damn Being X and this Devil he spawned to torment her so!