The War Chronicles of a Little Demon (Youjo Senki alt)

We've now got more art of Tauria.


This time she's giving a presentation to the most experienced member of her Flight: Volantes Centurion GreyDawn (screen left) and her commander Prefect Volantes Centurion Artemis Magnus Quirinus (screen right).


What is she presenting on? It looks like some part of Ritual Plate. Maybe it was her trying to convince the Squardon to switch over to all Polyxo Advanced Multi Roles, or maybe she's just being critical of "boob armor".



Full size.

(By the excellent Daywalkerrl link to artist's DA page possible NSFW content on it. )

Chapter 12 is now at 10,000 words and I hope to have it up soon.

 

The War Chronicles of a Little Demon

Set in the Return Verse
A Saga of Tanya the Evil fic thingy.
By Sunshine Temple

Naturally, I do not own Youjo Senki. So here's the disclaimer:

Saga of Tanya the Evil its characters and settings belong Carlo Zen, Shinobu Shinotsuki, and NUT Co., Ltd.

Previous chapters and other works can be found at my fanfiction website.
http://www.fukufics.com/fic/


Other website Temple of Ranma's Senshi Seifuku
http://fukufics.com

C&C as always is wanted.

Chapter 12: Dangerously Petite Pirouette

Relief was coming. A Squadron of Ritual Plate plus Strike and Recon assets. Also inbound were multiple Flights of VTOLs and all the equipment and troops they carried. They were coming as fast as they could. Much of it was coming from the airbase near the main refinery complex.

And that was the problem.

I had updated Flight Ops as to the situation and the potential risks they were flying into. There were at least half a dozen anti-aircraft teams in this area. Which to me meant the Diluvians were willing to invest anti-air assets into this area. My concern was that they would coordinate those missiles with their, admittedly limited, Ritual Plate corps.

The worst part was that Flight Ops was equally concerned - Theater Headquarters had scrambled the entirety of their Strategic Recon Squadron. While I appreciated having an Occultia providing intensive airborne scrying of unparalleled power, that Flight Ops decided such a rare and valuable Ritual Plate was worth sending my way did much to crush any potential optimism I had that this would be an easy operation.

I pushed those thoughts off as we flew just above the trees. The rain had slackened, and was now merely pouring instead of hammering down in a full deluge. I needed to keep an eye on our increasingly scant fuel reserves. I estimated that we had only enough for another few operational hours, and even that was contingent on how intense the fighting would be.

Fortunately, we weren't flying blind. Far from it, in fact - the combination of an Occultia giving a broad overview and pulses allowed the four Gorgon Rigs in my Flight to give local and passive sensor intake. More than just our scrying rigs, which while less sophisticated were closer and at a different bearing, getting reflections from the Occultia's pulses, we could also take in a broad range of data which could be collated, compared and combined into a more complete view. This allowed us to send quite a bit of data up to Flight Ops.

There were more enemy formations moving into the area and their anti-air teams had relocated. Which was smart, but they had not moved terribly far. I was loath to split my forces but we all had missions.

That included Crimson Recon. That team of Forward Scouting Legionaries had wounded, who shockingly had stabilized and were a bit mobile. Still Crimson Recon had also moved a small amount and they too had split up.

Both of their Forest People Auxilia, two grenadiers, their designated markswoman, and Centurion Galba herself had gone off and split into twp teams. That left two Legionaries, including their medico and their anti-air specialist with her man-portable Vel launcher, to watch the wounded.

I had reservations. Splitting forces resulted in dilution of firepower, presented risk of defeat in detail, required more coordination, and gave more opportunities for something to go wrong.

I flew with Visha at my wing while VioletBlood and GreyDawn went to their own targets. Ours were the furthest out of the two, but we were faster even given our limited speed while flying just above, and often through, the upper canopy.

A deliberate trio of clicks came over my comms from Varro's channel. I glanced at the map display. There were a lot of enemies, but that was to the east, coming from through a couple valleys. Within a couple minutes a matching set of clicks came from Galba's team.

"VioletBlood, the others are in position," I said over the Flight channel.

"We are thirty out," came her tight reply.

"Remember-" I paused. Reminding her how to do this kind of strafing run would just undermine her confidence. "- your training and you'll be okay. You can count on GreyDawn."

I looked over my display. All four elements were in position. "This is Diamond Actual. Execute. Execute. Execute."

I pushed my Zephyr and accelerated up as I raced towards my target with Visha covering me. The target raced up. The location was based on the assembling of scrying data from several sources. There was a chance that the Diluvians had put their search scrying systems separated from their missile launchers.

There!

In an area just below a ridgeline the trees had thinned slightly and my composite display highlighted a pair of Villeneuve missile platforms. Of Trosic manufacture, the Villeneuve was a strider-based golem similar to the Vel-equipped Marius Mule. However where our Legions had eight ready missiles, the slightly larger Villeneuve carried a rotary magazine of fifteen. The Toulon missile was also smaller which took up less space in a launcher. With a warhead only slightly less powerful than a Vel's the weight savings came at the cost of decreasing the range and having a less sophisticated seeker head.

Which was fitting as the Vel was a flexible missile that House BlackSky used for many air and ground targets whereas the Toulon was optimized as a light and inexpensive close-range surface to air missile for anti Ritual Plate work. There were tradeoffs between the two designs.

The enemy formation started taking hits as a Minerva rotary cannon opened up, raking the launchers. Sniper-fire picked off a couple of the operators and someone who was giving orders.

The assaulting force had the advantage of stealth and surprise but they were grossly outnumbered. And while the Villeneuve was more armored than the Marius Mule it was not quite designed to take up concentrated fire. It was also harder to use when the remote operators were being shot.

Taking evasive measures, I opened fire with my Pilum projector. One was down.

There were also some cargo golems and a ground force, though my focus was on the remaining Villeneuve that was busy spitting out Toulon missiles. If I were alone, I might have had to do more to intercept them, but Visha was using her Falx to take out the incoming ordnance.

Typically, in such a situation other anti-aircraft stations would fire to assist their beleaguered foes, but both of the westernmost stations were being hit at the same time. That wasn't to say that there was no supporting fire but it was decidedly sparse. Where once there had been a coherent air defense ring, there was now just a fragmented arc.

Like most light anti-air installations, the Villeneuve worked best coupled with other launchers and airborne assets. Not that it would have usually been a good idea for them to throw their RP at us. As unglamorous as it sounded, using their Ritual Plate to provide targeting and guidance for their missiles would be a far better use of finite resources. A full Villeneuve system was far cheaper than a Ritual Plate and, in this terrain, could be spread out to provide multiple overlapping angles of fire. It was also efficient; the enemy could launch twenty missiles to take out one Ritual Plate Flight and still come out ahead in terms of cost.

It also helped that we were in advanced Polyxo suits and I had a very experienced wingwoman. It was easy for a pilot to get contemptuous of ground fire,

And if each of the six anti-air teams had two Villeneuve launchers and cargo walkers with spare missiles then that came to about thee hundred and fifty missiles. Which while still a considerable investment, also confirmed that their initial launch against my Flight was the Diluvians holding back, even though they had launched nearly a hundred missiles. I suspected they had wanted to get more than just four Ritual Plate.

To their credit, the Diluvian troops repositioned to try to get cover and engage the ground ambush right after their launchers blew up. The guard force knew that the trained operators and maintainers they were protecting were more valuable alive and instead of some defiant last stand were covering their retreat.

Unfortunately for them, I knew that as well. I also had allies on the ground to protect. Switching to anti-infantry Falx fire, I strafed the enemy and, for good measure, I took out the cargo vehicles. Many of those fleeing ran into elements of Crimson Recon, who had clear orders not to advance beyond a certain longitudinal value.

The ground attack done; I joined assisting Visha in taking out the last of the airborne threats as we broke contact and went to the west.

"Target 1 Eliminated," I transmitted.
"Target 2 as well," VioletBlood gasped. I checked her status. There was some minor damage to her systems but she and GreyDawn were still combat-capable

"We've broken contact! Thanks for the assist, Diamond!" Varro's gruff tones were approving. "Going to the rally point."

"That makes it a clean sweep," Galba stated, with evident relief which I felt as well.

"Confirm. Outstanding work! Give your team my compliments," I told her and Varro before changing the comm channel. "Flight ops, this is Diamond Flight. The door is open, we'll be setting out the welcome mat shortly."

My concern was where were the Diluvians going from here? Taking out Crimson Recon was only a side element to their mission; there had to be some objective worth fielding this many troops.

That Flight Ops indicated other areas of the Eastern Interior Confederation were starting to turn hot was ominous. We were still far from the Emma Mine Complex and the Oraje Refinery so those facilities were not the target of this group of enemy, at least not at the moment.

But there were plenty of settlements, businesses, and assets that helped with supporting the miners, refinery workers, their staff and provided other parts and services that kept the supply of Samarium, Neodymium, Erbium and other rare metals flowing.

"VioletBlood, GreyDawn, meet up," I said, over the Fight channel. Now that the objective had been met I wanted to get my force back together into one unit.

"Confirm," VioletBlood replied coolly. I was glad to see her emotions were back under control.

"Diamond Flight, we have the incoming VTOLs," Flight Ops said. "Updating your telemetry."

"Understood. What about the strike package from Quirinus' Flight?" My concern was that the Four RP directly under the control of my commander would be directed to another hotspot. The 2nd Flight in my Squadron, Mercy's, had already been diverted.

"We have been released to your area of operations," Prefect Centurion Quirinus herself replied. "Good work Diamond, give your Flight my congratulations."

"I will," I assured my squadron commander. "I'll make sure to find your Flight something worthy to hit when the reinforcements land," I promised as I looked over the map display.

The problem was not just finding an enemy concentration or a critical enemy asset worthy of a Lance strike, but was determining what the enemy's goal was. And the best way to use our resources to counter that.

"What about Mercy's Flight?" I asked, studying what was in the area where the Diluvians had tried to stop Crimson Recon. There were not any BlackSkyvian facilities in the area, the nearest was our FOB EmeraldInferno, but there was a House Crocelli garrison overlooking the town of Vhin.

"Yes, I've got my whole Squadron together," Quirinus assured. "Plus reinforcements."

"Understood," I said, feeling a bit better. This might be a mess, but reinforcements both air and ground were inbound.

I overlaid a topographical map over the tactical display. Based on assumed terrain and probable enemy locations, the intended Landing Zones seemed reasonable enough. I was no expert on running a Landing Operation, but I had been trained on how to secure an LZ.

I swapped channels. "Flight Ops, we will commence scouting and clearing Landing Zones and coordinate with Crimson Recon."

"Confirm, Diamond Flight," came the smooth, calm voice of the dispatcher.

I went back to the Flight channel and tied in Centurion Galba and Scout Auxilia Varro. "Okay, I'm pushing you the coordinates of the proposed Landing Zones." I executed the command and once again had to trust that our comms were secure.

In full fairness, thaumaturgically linked systems were very hard to intercept, and that was before taking the encryption the Fleet and Legions used for tactical channels into account. I knew some of the theory and broad strokes of the mathematics involved, but the details were on a need-to-know basis, and as a pilot who could be captured by the enemy I clearly did not need to know.

The complexity of the calculations was closer to my first life than my second, though the usage of specialized enchantment channels and runes was more akin to a very specialized and low-power computation device. One that would readily self-destruct by burning out the channels as part of scuttling the suit.

Though even capturing intact hardware would be of limited use, as the codes for the channels were frequently changed and even the architecture of the calculations was routinely updated. Still, having an intact communications system would give any enemy a leg up on our methods. It did not help that ground troops had a similar, if less far ranging, set of comms. Or that the Ritual Plate models House BlackSky sold for export also had communications systems. That they were the previous generation and used a different encryption methodology was only some mitigation.

The boffins assured us they had done everything their clever minds could come up with. However no system was perfect and compromising comms was the crown jewel of military intelligence. It was with that paranoia that I passed on the vital data that had been shared with me.

Galba gave a snort while Varro laughed. "How attached are the brass-horns to these locations?" the gruff Forest Person asked.

"They're open to revision."

"Good, because LZ 2 is right by a cliff that'll collapse if someone looks at it funny. And not a friendly shale collapse. The geology shifts in that area and the exposed ridgelines are nasty, uplift basalt that's been cracked by Maker knows how many eons of water and roots having fun. If Command wants to put what I think they want to put there, then if clearing the LZ doesn't set things falling on them then the artillery certainly will."

I was not certain if Varro's geology estimates were correct, but he seemed to be informed. "Centurion?" I asked Galba.

"It's not a great spot. One bouncing boulder could wreck a VTOL and we'd have a proper mess." She chuckled. "Though at least we'd have you to help save us from that."

I suppressed a sigh. Sometimes, I cursed my reputation. "Let's not have a repeat of Ortov. I helped you at the river and you helped me take out those Villeneuves. You know the land. What's a good replacement location?" As I asked, my Flight continued to fly low and with increasing speed. Our scrying system was helping map things out and with those two anti-air sites down there was a bit less of a known threat.

"I'd go a bit further North. The map cautions that the ground is mixed rubble and stones, but a rocky field is better than the bog that most of the other ground is around here. Plus there will be a bit less foliage for you to cut," Varro suggested.

I eyed the map and looked at the data intake from the various scrying assets I had. "Okay, any objections? GreyDawn, what do you think?" The longest-serving member of my Flight had been on operations like this before.

"Foreign Object Ingestion is going to be a problem with any field landing, but strider-golems have some problem with walking in mud, though an artillery park might have to move off..." she paused. "I see a location. Yeah this seems better, and not too far off from the original LZ."

"Excellent work, Varro." Praising competent subordinates was vital. "Okay, what about the other Landing Zones? Don't hold back, if you want something moved for tactical reasons I'll fight for it." I assured Galba and Varro. "You're our eyes on the ground. Reinforcements are coming, let's work the problem."

Centurion Galba spoke up next. "I think they're after House Crocelli's Vhin township garrison."

"It could be something else, maybe the dam or a bridge downstream of the reservoir?" I offered

Galba snorted. "That would be done by a small sapper team, not the numbers we're seeing. With the numbers of troops and equipment they're exposing it has to be something worth the risk."

The Garrison had a robust field runway and even had some fixed-wing and VTOL assets, mostly as a cheap way for a Minor House to have budget ground attack assets, troop transport and even some budget Ritual Plate. They had a squadron of Alecton Archers if memory served. And there was at least a cohort-equivalent of House Crocelli's Jungle Hunters. While not as comfortable in the interior jungles as the Diluvian irregulars, they had better equipment though that gap was reducing. They were also, if anything, more ruthless than the Diluvian troops.

I contemplated my tactical display. "If the Diluvians think they could take that garrison, one with even basic Ritual Plate and artillery... Then it's likely they had more assets than those we've observed."

"Perhaps one of the other enemy attacks is intended to link up at Vhin?" Visha gently reminded as she highlighted other elements on a more zoomed-out tactical display.

I glanced over my updated display. Having an Occultia in the field was a great boon as it showed far more enemy assets and there, to the south, was what seemed like a column taking a mountain road that would link up with Vhin. It was not very subtle but they were moving fast.

I smiled as my tail swished in the wind stream and rain. "Good find. Visha, help the others adjust the other Landing Zones. I have a call to make."

"Yes, Diamond!" Visha eagerly said.

I could just feel her joy and the predatory glee that made her a war maniac, albeit one with more self-control. I switched comm channels. "Quirinus."

"Go, Diamond," my squadron commander said.

"I have some targets to propose for your Flight." I stated as I sent the locations and quickly explained the theory on the Vhin Garrison.

Concessions, deals, "security contracts", and outright bribes were how House Crocelli kept some semblance of peace in the only nominally governed Eastern Interior Confederation. Many service contracts were given to powerful families, tribes and other groups to get them to buy into the operation and have a vested interest in the metal extraction proceeding smoothly.

The Diluvians objected to this status quo. And it was certainly not out of avarice for lands that they claimed were theirs, nor out of a desire against imperialistic exploitation. Though if their leaders thought House Trosier's gifts or House Ziox's lessons did not come with strings then they would be sadly mistaken.

Yes, neither of those Houses thought well of House BlackSky, and while House Ziox was neutral to Alecto, Trosier was in a low-intensity war with the other major naval power in Diyu. Denying a major supplier of critical metals to their hated enemy was worth some deniable assets. I doubted even House Trosier was arrogant enough to think they could get the output of the mine for themselves. That would require them to occupy part of House Crocelli, right in House BlackSky and Alecton's backyard.

As such the Vhin Garrison was a tactical and political target. With it eliminated, the Duivians had more operations space and our forces could be flanked and pressured which could expose the mining complex and refinery that were the whole reason House BlackSky even cared.

"Well, you don't do things by halves," Prefect Quirinus said after taking a moment to digest the idea. "With our loadout, I can't guarantee taking out all of their forces, especially if they disperse."

"Roughly a dozen Lance strikes will blunt just about any motorized column," I countered.

"Good point," Quirinus laughed. "I'll have Mercy's Flight run escort and do a strafe to mop up and do damage assessment. That will delay some of your backup."

"We'll manage," I said, keeping myself from gritting my teeth. I was getting used to my ideas having negative consequences. On balance it would be better to hit the enemy before they could link up so there was that.

"So, I've heard," she said.

That sent a chill down my spine which went to the tip of my tail. What had she heard about the river skirmish? I was just making the most of all those Toulon missiles forcing us below the tree line. "I'll make sure we do the Legions proud," I promised, going with something that sounded safe.

"Oh, I have no doubts about that, Countess."

++++++

Still pondering the earlier conversation with that mushroom-obsessed demon countess, I looked over the rest of my Recon Team as the Spatha's engines screamed and the nimble little craft plummeted towards the jungle. Aside from some wings ruffling and tails twitching, they took the combat drop with aplomb.

Wings gave them the comforting illusion of safety. Most crashes were too fast or violent for a Legionary to simply bail out and hope to fly out of. Myself, I simply continued to hunch over up against the wall and held the harness straps.

"Doors open!" Centurion Otho shouted as trees flashed past us and then above us as we hit the Landing Zone. The interior was pretty cramped as there was half a pallet of artillery shells by the aft ramp. It was awkwardly placed and I would be happy to be away from them, but I could see the logic. Given how hungry even a single Tormenta of artillery pieces would be, a lot of our VOTLs would carry some extra.

I simply turned over and undid the latch and with a tug slid open the port side door. One of our grenadiers took position at each opening as we went down.

There was a final flare of the engines as the pods rotated to straight up and down and then canted just a hair forward as both our forward and vertical velocity cut off.

Hefting the big oilskin rucksack over my shoulder and taking my machine gun, I jumped out of the VTOL and easily made the last few feet. My feet touched the squelchy mud and pulped plant matter of the freshly-made clearing. The rest of the team also jumped out with slightly more elegance and grace.

Before we had rushed more than a few steps out to the tree-line, the Spatha had shot back up into the air, engine downwash adding to the pouring rain which soaked my fur and plate carrier.

Still, in a few more paces I would be back into the forest.

Yes, it was full of entirely the wrong type of trees and entirely too many succubae with passable woodcraft who wanted to kill me, but I had agreed to go wherever Imperatrix BlackSky sent me and kill whoever ordered. And my people were not ones to idly break our vows.

With Hosta dead, I was the only Auxilia in Emerald Recon. Which was a bit irksome. Not that my squadmates were incompetent in the jungle, but while demons had many physical advantages over my people, size and true woodcraft were not among them. That meant that until a replacement came down south to our FOB, I either had to work alone or pull one of the "proper" Legionaries to watch my back. Ideally, Laco our markswoman or Vinius the most fleet-footed and nimble-hooved of our grenadiers.

I pushed those thoughts aside as I glanced up. Checking the sky was an ingrained habit if one wanted to survive fighting demons regardless if they were irregulars, Minor Houses, or the Great Diyu powers.

House BlackSky might take the most extreme form but all demons loved their air power. It was hard to see much through the storming rainfall and cloud cover, but the VTOL that had sent us out here was still visible as well as some distortions that might have been their escorting RP. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking on my part.

I would rather have that countess and her Flight directed towards our mutual enemies. Further afield I could see the main Landing Zone receiving Flights of Umbra Medium VTOLs. I idly wondered how many Centuries and artillery pieces would be moved in. I then put my attention to more terrestrial matters and entered the cover of the forest.

The rain had lessened a little bit now that we were under the leafy cover. Though my shorter and far more slender teammates already looked drenched and waif-thin. At least they moved reasonably well.

I had to concentrate a bit to not blend in so much that my teammates lost sight of me. Despite the mix of rocks, mud, roots and leaves, they all managed to keep their footing. There was nothing worse than having to be a Scout Auxilia for a bunch of city-bound incompetents.

Fortunately, that tended to be a self-correcting problem. More so that Auxilia of my specialization were in demand enough to be put to good use. Great Maker, the Legions even let those foxes into the Auxilia. Yes, they were reasonably stealthy and good with fire and illusion magic but they were not exactly trustworthy. And they were just as slender and puny as the demons. Which I suppose made them more comfortable to be around for the succubae.

The big oilskin bounced off my back as we clambered into the woods. I did not begrudge carrying the heaviest load, the others were also laden with supplies.

Crimson Recon had fought hard and was down two Legionaries. That pair had been evacuated on the first Spatha to have landed ahead of us which kicked out a few supplies, mostly to replenish their depleted medico and give them more water.

"Lares? Come over here, I want your input," Centurion Otho said after meeting up with her counterpart in Crimson Recon, Centurion Galba.

I was not surprised to see Varro, one of Galba's two Scout Auxilia looming by her. Fortunately, all the Scout Auxilia at FOB EmeraldInferno were Forest People. Not that there was anything wrong with the Kitsu but they used different gear and weapons.

Varro was a bit shorter than me though was bulkier with more muscle and had a slightly darker pelt. Though, like the rest of his team, he was utterly soaked. As our commanders exchanged greetings and went over maps, I undid my ruck and opened it.

He accepted the ammunition and grenades with equanimity, but his dark eyes lit up as I handed him a couple oversized packets of rations. Tearing into a sleeve of fortified nutmeg twists, he handed the foil packet of energy crystals over to his centurion, who ripped off a couple to slip into her armor's pouches before passing them along.

"We've had a long night, made fairly comfortable by Diamond Flight," Galba joked.

I glanced over to Varro. He gave a slight nod as he chewed. There was a story there, something he would tell me later. I did not mind working with him, even though he had a slightly different style.

Otho nodded to Galba. "Once the combat engineers finish setting up a firebase, I'll be asking for their help. We'll be setting some positions before the main Legionaries form up." She had unfolded a map and started pointing out locations.

I nodded and gave a few thoughts for where the geomancers could improve things. Varro gave a few words of confirmation. He knew more than I did about the structural properties of natural stone.

Which were vital to making the engineer's job easier.

The two Centurions lined out a few other thoughts on the map display. I grunted when the likely enemy positions were added. The Diluvians were coming, but they had delayed to reorganize and consolidate their lines.

Galba and Otho glanced about as they quickly mulled over the map. I could just feel the conversation those two were having as the rest of us stood around in the rain. Well, at least most of our recon teams were on watch.

"Lares, we've got a job for you, Varro, and Flaccus," Otho said.

I just nodded. Going out alone had several downsides. At least this meant I would be out with people who knew how to be quiet.

"What's the target?" Varro asked as he stared at the display to commit the information to memory.

Otho pointed to a couple spots on the map. "Air Recon thinks there's some more Gravina mortar platforms and some more Villeneuve missile launchers."

"That much is true, but they think they found a few smaller teams with these platforms going to flank us, maybe provide some enfilading fire." Galba shrugged at the map. "It's as good of an estimate as any as to what those teams are doing, but we want you to find out for sure."

"Air Ops has been rather good tonight," Varro rumbled.

. "True, and if it's not Dilu with shiny Trosic surplus golems then it might be their own recon teams. Either way, we want you three to deal with them," Otho stated.

"Can we call our own air support?" I asked.

Looking up at me, Galba gave a fanged smile. "I'll give you priority with Diamond Flight. They should be done with a field refueling at the other LZ before you get going"

Nodding, I saluted.

"Let's get the rest of this to Flaccus so he can get that pig of his reloaded," Varro joked about Falccus ' Minerva rotary cannon. In truth all three of us would be carrying ammunition for that profligate weapon.

"Get geared up, get a quick bite, then head out," Otho recommended.

I had some more water and a bit of food while Varro finished eating. One upside to the demons was they were loath to let even their Auxilia go hungry.

We reunited with the lanky Flaccus with his light fur. He nodded to me and eagerly helped take the belts of 0.70 in ammunition for his Minerva and put many in voluminous pouches that hung from his harness. Varro and I divvied up the rest of the Minerva ammunition and then split the ammunition belts for our machine guns.

After that we divided the grenades, charges, water canteens, food, and medical supplies. "How was Diamond Flight tonight?"

"Danger close," Flaccus murmured.

Nodding, I looked to Varro. "Yeah, they went in under the canopy and took out a whole Diluvian column. The countess was more than willing to get her claws dirty," he drawled.

"Including getting two fresh ones for the medico," Flaccus grumbled.

I grunted. Short term, it was good to have powerful air support. Long term, it meant that maybe it would be best for me to get in on the countess' mushroom harvesting scheme. It would be safer than my other options.

I pushed those thoughts aside as I made sure the ruck was empty and folded it up. My gaze went to Flaccus and Varro. The three of us shared a nod and we slipped into the forest.

My feet silently went through the ground nearer the roots avoiding litter and crunch. Water came down upon us. It was nice to follow someone who had an ingrained ability to woodswalk. Varro knew to avoid the "paths", the lines between the trees where the deadfall went and where the water collected.

Water-laden leaves and branches arched down and many had to be pushed aside. Our size was a bit of a disadvantage. I would admit that the kitsu had an easier time by being smaller and being able to get far lower to the ground.

But we were Forest People, and while this jungle was not our own home, it was home enough. We blended. The foliage moved and helped us and our forms blended in.

We traveled without splashing, without disturbing the flow. This much water made keeping a conventional illusion... difficult and energy-intensive.

Yards and yards of forest passed under our large feet without us being seen. For we did not use conventional illusions. There was no magical projection masking our presence. We simply were the People of the Forest.

Soon the smell of BlackSkyvian Legionaries vanished and for a while it was just the three of us as we traveled inexorably towards the first Diluvian patrol. I trusted Varro's orienteering skills.

Even the least of us would have a hard time getting lost even in a foreign jungle. And the topography of this area meant it was rather obvious for us to go in the right direction, all we had to do was keep following the upslope.

Sniffing the air, we slowed, exchanged a couple quick hand signs, and spread out. There were Diluvians out here. I had some pity for the small demons. This was their home, and they were... passable. Still, there was only so much they could do to make that clambering golem quiet.

It was a mortar platform and another multi-legged golem laden with munitions. The Diluvians did keep a vanguard out in front scouting. We let the two demons pass, allowing them to keep their illusions.

The demons had rather good kit. Their uniforms were light but waterproof. But one could be skilled in an activity and still find it miserable. It did not help that they were most certainly deadening their emotional transmissions to keep them from being detected by Legion Recon teams.

Letting our weapons hang on their straps, We wheeled to the trailing end of the small formation. Four demons trudged along. They kept their weapons tight to keep from hitting branches but ready to use, and they made use of the terrain and the gloom.

It was still like sneaking up on a youth marching band. Containing my breathing and wrapping myself deeper into the forest, I slipped up to the very last members of the little formation.

The pair had enough sense to watch their backs without walking backwards. They were also not bunched up. The two had enough distance that it would be a bit hard to kill both with one burst. The two demons were wary and alert without being paralyzed with fear.

Exact colors were hard to tell in the deep darkness, but both had pale features and short, bright hair. Maybe they were sisters. It did not matter. None of it mattered. They did not matter.

I was almost at them...

Eyes widened and the Diluvian was about to react.

I let my rage and frustration bubble up as my arm shot out and caught her neck in my meaty palm. One great advantage of fighting enemies half your size was that I could fully encircle her neck with one hand. I immediately squeezed, putting the most pressure on the sides of the demon's neck.

Cutting off the supply of blood to the brain was a quicker way to kill than strangling the front to cut off the supply of air to the lungs. Her eyes widened but it was hard to scream without any air going through one's neck. A flicker of defiance went over her face. Maybe, she was going to lift her rifle, maybe she was going for a grenade, maybe she was going to use her tail. It was moot as before that flicker could fully register, I grabbed her head by the horns with my other hand and simply twisted my arms like I was opening a cheap screw-top bottle of Legion schnapps.

I gently let the diminutive demon fall to the ground with a muffled thump.

Just enough to get her partner's attention. That and the sudden loss of whatever minimal emotional signature she had been emitting.

Still her partner was sensible enough to not throw a fireball, whisper out a name, or do anything to reveal her location. She tried to have good fieldcraft. She should call back to the rest of the column, but part of her hoped this was a false alarm.

That was the problem with empaths. It made some very in denial about death.

And she clung to that grim bit of hope when Varro loomed up behind her, grabbed her by the helmet, twisted and sunk his combat knife just below her neck in an economical motion.

My nostrils flared with the scent. Well, Varro did prefer to work a bit more wet when it came to eroding morale.

Briefly meeting my gaze, he gave a tiny nod before slipping back into the shadows. There were quiet words of alarm ahead of us. The demons had better noses and would know something was wrong. Right, onto the next phase.

I trotted off to get into position, trusting that Flaccus and his heavy weapon were already ready

And then the artillery Tormenta opened up. I smirked, this was either very fortuitous or disastrous.

The distant explosions from the guns spread more worried, barely concealed, chatter among the enemy group. They had also stopped their mortar golem.

There was a moment of indecision as they wondered if they were the target of the BlackSkyvian barrage. I'll admit to having some fear as well, but it was a base thing. We Auxi were too valuable to be wasted on taking out just an enemy mortar team.

But the Diluvians did not know that. They did not even know we were here.

The formation's officer tried to rally her troops, which involved spreading them out and calling all her subordinates.

Flaccus did not give her the time. Taking a perpendicular position to the rough enemy column, his Minerva Rotary Cannon opened up. I saw distant figures fall and the Gravina golem mortar carriers go up. They had armor, but only enough to protect against small arms.

Varro and I had also fired out machine guns. Each of us using the better part of a belt that went across the length of the column. Again the enemy was sensible enough to split their forces along multiple paths. So we could not simply just fire down a single line.

"Covering!" Varro shouted as he switched to shorter bursts as I ran in. Machine gun dropping to its strap I took out a clutch of grenades. Even in all this confusion I was still no more than a blur to the enemy. I primed the ordnance and with a seemingly lazy series of lobs chucked them around the center of the enemy formation and two at the cargo golems that were heaped with crates of mortars.

They had all gone to the ground. Both those who had been cut down and those with the sense, and luck, to go prone. I ran past them at an angle to pull out and meet up with Flaccus. To my side I heard an explosion go off, including a much larger crump. Luck was with us tonight.

I fired the rest of my belt to give Flaccus time to reload his Minerva, and then he covered me as I swapped in a fresh belt of my own.

I then gave sporadic fire as we withdrew. The Minerva fired faster and larger, heavier cartridges at that. It was good for ambushes and when heavy firepower was required, but even with the three of us carrying extra ammunition, it was short-lived.

Rendezvousing with Varro, each of us gave some of the Minerva ammunition we were carrying to Flaccus.

Once we were certain the mauled mortar teams and their escorting infantry were not pursuing, Varro reported his status and checked the map. He muttered for a bit to the Recon Centurions. "Confirm."

He gave us a grim smile. "Well, gentlemen," he said with a rueful chuckle. "We've got an anti-air crew to take out."

Falccus gave a slow nod. "Do we have air support this time?"

Varro smiled at me. "Yes. Turns out we will be getting Diamond Flight, if we can hurry up." He flipped the map to me with the lines that were just visible in the gloom and pointed out our location and that of the enemy.

It was a fair distance but we could make it. Even our Legionary allies had trouble comprehending how fast our kind truly could be.

The Villeneuve missile launcher was similar to the Gravina mortar carrier, except it was bulkier and larger. Thus it was harder to move them with stealth.

And it was easier for us to find and confirm this group. That they had a larger escorting force made it more of a challenge

This group was further away from the mortar teams. Those luckless succubae had been moving in to get into a position to help an infantry assault on our landing zones. I wondered if their commanders knew the Legion had landed a Tormenta of artillery, with all the support such a collection of Arachne guns entailed.

Those mortar guns could have helped an infantry assault but they would have to get in quick, otherwise the counter-battery fire would have been withering. The Arachne was an effective enough weapon lobbing a fifty pound shell with reasonable range and accuracy. It was also light enough that two Umbra Flights could deliver a Tormenta of four guns and their supporting equipment, troops, shells, fuel, and Marius Mules.

As we traveled, the artillery base had continued fairly regular fire. They would release several salvos at one target before adjusting to another. Often that adjustment included moving the guns. Though I honestly wondered if that was enough to avoid being targeted by enemy fire, especially as each time they moved they would have to recalibrate the guns. But I was no Istarii Centurion.

I did know that the guns were hungry and could easily deplete the supply of shells they had been initially supplied with. Hence the frequent VTOL supply drops. I also knew that Ritual Plate played a vital spotting role. Though with an Occultia in our area of operations that dramatically helped in collating enemy movements, especially given the foliage cover.

The Villeneuve battery was further back, closer to friendly support. After Crimson Recon's earlier escapades, it seemed that they had pulled their air defense closer. For some reason these Diluvians were paranoid about aerial attacks.

However being able to fill the sky with Toulon missiles did little to stave off a creeping artillery barrage. And there were worse things for them to worry about.

I gave a grim smile as I watched the little demons huddling down to try to guard the mobile missile platforms and their crews. Despite the miserable rain they had not put on fires or started using Pixie, a minor synesthetic euphoric, or anything like that.

More out of keeping good habits than anything else I slowly crept over to Varro. We had not seen any evidence of Forest People native to these jungles, but that did not mean that the Duvians did not have access to any, or maybe other jungle specialists. They might even have a practitioner who specialized in stealth, invisibility, or veiling herself or maybe one who could pierce our obfuscating magic.

I suppressed a sigh. Hosta was an ass, but he did not deserve to die like that. At least he took out plenty of demons with him, for whatever small consolation that was worth. I stepped over a root as my large feet passed over the jungle floor, leaving hardly a mark. As unpleasant as the rain was, it did make things easier in that regard.

Small consolations were about all one got in this life.

I gave Varro an inquisitive look and signed a basic question.

Shrugging, he did not take his attention off the enemy formation. Given the limited sightlines between the trees, branches, vines and other bits only glimpses could be made. The regular artillery shots had quieted most of the wildlife which gave a nicely oppressive silence in between bombardments.

Varros brows knitted as he considered his options.

"Just let Diamond deal with them?" I offered.

"We do have a shiny new firebase of Arachne artillery," Flaccus grumbled as he checked over his Minerva. The weapon was admirably water-resistant, but checking it out was prudent.

I nodded. We had traveled a fair bit, but the range... No wonder those troops were so miserable. I would bet a three-day pass at the beach, Great Maker I would bet a one-day pass at the airbase by the refinery's airport, that the Diluvian commander of that little air defense node was angrily yelling at her superiors for permission to move her assets.

The Diluvians could read a map too. "Both?"

"Both," Falccus agreed.

"Both sounds good," Varro chuckled as he switched on his comm system.

I patched into the channel as well and once we connected in.

"Auxiliary Scout group to Diamond Flight and Second Arachne Tormenta ," Varro stated.

"Diamond Actual, here" the Countess' haughty confident voice came in. She sounded much the same as earlier today, as if she could talk about her ideas for administering her land holdings if not for this pesky battle.

"Tormenta here," the Istarii Centurion drawled in a Midlands accent. Her audio feed periodically cut out as the four artillery pieces fired.

"Presenting coordinates on a Villeneuve battery," Varro said.

"At least three launcher units and a separate supplemental scrying station," I added.

"Fair range; I'll have an open slot on the guns shortly. What do you think flygirl? Are you comfortable getting close enough?"

I could imagine the haughty disdain on the Countess' face. "We can be there in ten. And can act as spotters after the initial hits." Dispute that her tone was perfectly professional. "Auxilia, are you positioned? I don't want you at risk if the shells fall short."

Varro gave a quiet chuckle.

"That won't be a problem," the Istarii Centurion frostily said.

I gave Varro a look and he nodded. "We'll be guiding you in," he assured after giving the coordinates for the keep-out zone. He then motioned and the three of us started moving.

We could not move too far and still keep a good view on the enemy position

"Diamond Flight in position," the Countess said. Given the potential danger and that her Flight of Ritual Plate were not hovering, it was less of a single position and more that they were within the right general area.

"Scouts in position," Varro said.

"Confirm. Commencing firing solution," the Istarii Centurion stated all business.

The sky then opened up as a quartet of shells landed just a bit north of the enemy position. One of the Villeneuve launchers might have been knocked out then and there. But the Diluvians, already on edge, hunkered down and started calling for support.

I gave a bit of a smirk. Villeneuve had about twice the capacity of our surface to air launchers but that came at a cost; while our Vel missile was primarily an anti-air weapon it could be stretched into various counter-fire and anti-ground roles, their Toulon was smaller and was limited to anti-air roles.

I scanned the forest as the next salvo hit and fed Varro targeting info that he repeated. The channel got a bit busy as the Countess also added her own observations.

This had the third and subsequent artillery salvos fall right into the center of the enemy formation.

Spotting became harder and easier. There was more smoke and fire, but there were also fewer trees in the way. "Three Villeneuve down. Repeat, three Villeneuve down," I stated.

Falccus shifted a bit ready to use his rotary cannon in case some of the survivors went in our direction.

"Scrying data confirms," the Countess stated.

"Confirm, ceasing firing sequence. We hope you are pleased with your bombardment order," the Istarii Centurion added with a bit of levity.

"Guns have stopped, you are clear to go in," the artillery leader said after a moment.

"Understood." The Countess's controlled tones did little to hide the obvious relish in her voice as she led her Flight right into the harrowed remains of the enemy formation.

From our position we could not see the camouflaged forms of Diamond Flight. Only watch the smaller, but more pinpoint, attack runs. They were using a lot of anti-infantry fire.

I gave a tiny shake of my head. There was something... arch about sending Ritual Plate to finish off an anti-air unit after artillery had killed the very launchers that were supposed to protect them. There were a few desultory launches from the odd man-portable missile tube. But without the ability to fire a lot of missiles and give coordinated direction it came to little end.

However, my sympathies for people facing the wrath of demonic imperialists was mitigated by the fact that they were, for now, on my side. And having Diamond Flight kill them meant it was one less fight I had to slog through on this miserable night.

"Glad for the assist," Varro stated after Diamond Flight finished their attack runs. He then went to the private channel with just the three of us.

I glanced at the map. The enemy repositioning could spell trouble for us. "We might need more air support," I noted.

"And they are more precise than the cannon-cockers," Falccus stated

"Well, stay out. When the demons get into their tail-measuring contests it's best to pretend you didn't notice and find somewhere else to be," Varro cautioned.

We broke contact and silently marched up the slope away from the shattered enemy formation. After confirming that we had not been followed, we paused to look over the map and call in to our commanding centurions.

"Good work you three," Centurion Otho said; it was surpassingly quiet in the background of her audio feed.

"Have we confirmed these enemy movements?" Varro asked before giving a set of coordinates for a multi-century formation that was looking to stage before they started probing our temporary firebase. They were dispersing which was a good tactic to avoid getting everyone hit by artillery, but would run into limits the closer they got.


"Air assets are pretty confident but we've been providing target data for another force coming up to the East," Otho admitted. "This one still has mortar and air defense assets."

I kept in a sigh. The Legions made a lot of use of air support and combined arms, but at their heart they were airborne troops. Which meant frequent opportunities to be outnumbered and surrounded.

And Scouts and Recon teams were even more at risk of this. And two reduced Recon teams were effective, but they had stripped off their Auxilia Scouts and thus could not get as close to the enemy. Though they did have numbers and more grenadiers.

Falccus looked to Varro and myself and he gave a resigned shrug.

"We can scout this formation. Find out where their leadership is, or something critical. Make it so our artillery isn't just pummeling random troopers," Varro offered. A curtain barrage was a valid proposal, especially when the enemy got closer and thus their total frontage shrank.
However, with only four Arachne guns. The enemy could push past that, if they were willing to soak the losses, especially if they had a flanking attack. Not to mention our guns had a limited supply of ammunition all of which had to be flown in. Though the VTOL pilots and their load mistresses were very skilled at field resupply and air drops.

There was a pause as Otho consulted with others. "You think you three can keep making use of Diamond Flight?"
"What's their status?" Varro asked.

"They got a field refueled and rearmed; they should be good."

Varro chuckled. "Then I'll keep 'em."

"Confirm, Diamond, you hear that?"

"Of course," the Countess stated.

"Understood, best of luck to your girls," Varro told Centurion Otho.

"And best of luck to your lads," she said back.

Varro then requested and made contact with the Istarii Centurion in charge of the artillery guns. He explained our plans and gave some coordinates of our planned route.

"Cutting it a bit close, but I can drop the priority for that enemy formation," she admitted. "I'll adjust fire, and go in the keep out zones, but if they have a paranoid commander they'll notice if we stop pummeling part of their lines."

"Understood," Varro agreed. "We'll update you if we get hung up, and make sure to find you something good."

"My girls or Diamond's?" the Istarii Centurion lightly asked

"There is more than enough enemy for all of us," the countess noted.

I shivered in the rain. In a way it was worse when DiamondDust was collected. It was one thing for the demons to kill in bloodlust, it was another to see them dispatch enemies of the House with cold and calculated reprisals. The countess was the type of demon who could oversee a decimation and come up with efficiency improvements, or devote energy to logistical improvements of other punishments.

I shrugged. It could be worse. Varro concluded his setup with our fire support.

We resumed our quick march through the forest. Diamond Flight kept their patrol over the landing zones providing immediate support while keeping the ability to come to us when called.

The terrain grew a bit rockier before we came to a tributary of the river that my companions had experienced their first air support from Diamond Flight.

I glanced at Varro as we neared the first Diluvian pickets. He shook his head. We could have quietly killed them but their absence would be noticed. .

We also had to trust the focus and diligence of artillery crews to keep to a schedule and move their fire. I was less worried as this formation was being subject to a more harassing fire than a focused curtain. Maybe it would lull the enemy into thinking the Legionaries were running low on ammunition, or that they did not have a clear idea where the Diluvians were.

Which was not entirely false. Target differentiation was the reason the demons had sent the three of us out her to sniff out something worthy of hitting.

Falccus gave me a baleful look and an inquiring hand signal followed by one for enemy and then priority.

Altogether, it meant he was asking what special units I thought we were going to find.

I shrugged and gave a signal with that same noncommittal sense. It was possible that this was just a mob of infantry with nothing more exotic than some support machine guns.

But that would mean this was the diversionary formation. Or maybe the Diluvians decided to go with a demon-wave attack.

Falccus snorted and gave the hand-sign for mage.

That was fair; casters were useful, if rare. They also had a lot of combat power and until they started spell-slinging they looked normal, at least from the air under the cover of heavy foliage. Though paranoid wizards would make it a point to dress like normal troopers.

I returned with the signal for grenadier. They were a less flexible and powerful talent and thus Diluvians could have scrapped together more of them. I was not sure this was a big enough effort to put in a lot of mage support on the part of the enemy.

We avoided another group of troops and once they had passed, moved on and ascended up a spur of stone that was only partially covered by plant-growth. This region had a mix of steep watersheds and rock formations close to the surface. It made for rather nasty terrain. The area we were in acted as a bit of a funnel. Not enough for our artillery to use as a chokepoint, especially with the Diluvians only pushing part of their force through at a time.

However small ridges like this would give us some extra concealment. The elevation would help. The canopy was a bit higher here, reflecting that the trees were quite as closely spaced due to the greater rock content in this part of the jungle Also only the most dedicated Diluvian patrols could climb up every rock shelf an hillock, especially when they were being driven forward to stage and attack a Legion position.

Varro motioned for Falccus to take one side, myself another and he would face the main enemy axis of advance. The enemy had spread out and we caught glimpses of their vanguard moving all around us. Taking some water, Varro settled in.

I saw what were likely a couple Diluvian scout teams amble by. Lightly equipped, they were quiet in their water-resistant tunics, shorts, and high leggings. It even looked like they had good boots and kit. I let them pass when it was clear they had missed our presence. Afterwards I clicked my comms and slowly gave the hand signals for enemy, scouts, and number.

I got two clicks in response indicating they had seen my motion. A bit later Varro saw an infantry formation of reasonable size. After that Falccus detected some troops who were heavily loaded with supplies. If he saw anything especially critical in their loads he did not make a note of it.

I frowned. Soon enough Varro would have us move to a new hide.

My nostrils flared as I spotted what looked like another group of Diluvian scouts. However despite their light carbines and armor they moved with clumsy motions. Their footsteps were heavy as if laden. Tails were also limp and wings fluttered a bit.

They were either extremely fatigued scouts or total greenhorns. Both were possible, but something seemed off. They were a rather large scout squad which made sense for a group of tender-hooves. However... they should have had a commander keeping them to task.

Maybe she was killed.

I was about to let the miserable group trudging in the rain go past with another common hand-signal. I was already making plans to take them out as a sort of consolation prize when we moved to our next position.

Then the rain went from a downpour into a deluge. Just as the group passed under an area where the canopy thinned. And there was a shimmering flicker around the "scouts". It was nothing more than a bit of ghost-light. Something just about any demon could make, but something no one would make in a combat zone.

It was just a moment. Then the minute shimmer was gone. Their Veils held.

But that meant they were using Veils. The whole group was casting illusion magic.

I clicked my comms and gave the hand signal for mages. Great Maker, Falccus would never let me hear the end of this.

Exhaling, I made sure my own magic was concealing myself as well as possible. If those "scouts" were who I suspected they were, they would have enough skill to burn through our own concealing spells. But that would require them to suspect we were here, and that much arcane emissions would get detected by Legion air assets.

Or if not that then their magical assault on us would certainly show up.

I switched the channel on my comms and typed out the coordinates and summary of the enemy formation. At least we have found something. There were several fairly sound reasons to clumping up a quarter century of Mage assets.

They were all rather ominous. The least of which was that some of their casters were good at air defense wards and long range evocation spells and thus the formation could protect themselves. Numbers would even allow for rotating their personnel and mutual support. More worrying was that they had trained to cast as a group very high power rituals that required that much magical power.

There was also the cost. Even if only half of the team were high level Mages it was still a considerable wager of resources. They had to have a target beyond just that temporary firebase. Which implied that the enemy was confident they could take it out and keep these assets intact for the next target.

Hence them marching under Veil even when they assumed they were alone in the forest.

"Confirm Auxilia Scouts. Excellent find, Lares. Shall we ruin their clever plan?" the countess's voice purred.

A part of me felt some primitive relief in the act of finding some other poor saps to sacrifice to the BlackSkyvian war machine. The polite, professional, efficient little countess was an ideal avatar of the Imperial Legions and their bloody ethos.

"Collating data," the countess noted. "Flight Ops, what support can we call upon? I have ground scouts on the channel and they've found a pretty ominous enemy formation."

"Confirm, Diamond Actual." the smooth voice or the dispatcher said. "We're a bit strained for assets at the moment. The rest of your Squadron is still tied up with that convoy Strike."

I could just imagine that Countess wanted to grumble but she would never do that on a live channel. "Understood. Arachne Tormenta, what's your capacity?" she asked the Istarii Centurion.

"We're a bit pressed," the artillery officer admitted. "We'll have more of a reserve once we get another load of shells in."

"Flight Ops, what is in the area? What about the Flight watching Landing Zone 2?" the Countess asked.

"I'll see if I can. I already have to divert Umbra 05 so they don't over-fly the enemy mages."

The channel was quiet for a moment.

"What is Umbra 05 carrying?" I asked, typing out the question.

++++++

I smirked as Lares's inquiry floated on my display. The Auxilia scout had a devious mind and if we were lucky. "Flight Ops?"

"Hold steady Diamond. Patching in with Umbra 05 to confirm."

"This is Umbra 05," the Ventus Centurion drawled in an easy Danum provincial accent. "We have two pallets of Legionary Units of Fire munitions, a pair of Marius Mules with Vel launchers, four sets of rocket reloads and two pallets of Arachne shells."

"Flight Ops, I am requesting an expedient munition drop." My smirk grew. "Umbra 05 can your Load Mistress release one of the artillery pallets?"

The line was quiet for a moment. I took the opportunity to check with the rest of my Flight. We had gotten our various power-cells swapped out earlier at the little firebase we had made so other than physical fatigue and minor suit damage our status was good.

And the Fleet and Legions had various ways to keep Pilots focused for long duration missions.

"One of the pallets is by the ramp," the Ventus Centurion stated. "But it doesn't have a parachute onto it."

"Good, I would have had you remove it anyway," I stated.

"Flight ops?" the Umbra's Pilot inquired

Meanwhile the Istarii Centurion gave a twisted little chuckle. "Impatient, are we little Diamond?"

"Will it work?" I asked.

"They might not go off. We do try to make our warheads stable, the propellant might ignite, depends on how high you want to drop it. Worst case they'll all scatter and you'll have to detonate them manually. But it would make a pretty mess," the artillerist gleefully said.

I kept in a sigh. "Flight Ops, what about a Torpedo strike?" A Fujiwara aerial Torpedo could make short work of even that many Wizards, especially without scouts providing targeting data.

"Those assets are not available at this time," Flight Ops admitted.

I suppressed a curse. Even a corvette squadron would have at least thirty Torpedoes. I'd take a single Torpedo bomber at this moment.

"But, your plan has been authorized," the dispatcher allowed. "Umbra 05 you are cleared."

"Confirm. Who do you want us to drop a load of artillery shells on?" the VTOL Pilot asked, managing to keep most of the wariness out of her voice.

Checking the uplink, I sent her the target coordinates and made sure Lares could update them. "Ground scouts detected two to three Contubernium of Diluvian Mages."

To her credit the Pilot took that in stride. "I am requesting control of our own altitude corridor for the drop and escort." She added.

"Confirm, we are rendezvousing with your position," I stated, transferring a new flight path to the rest of my Flight.

"Understood Diamond Flight." There was a pause. "My Load Mistress is confident she can land the pallet on target."

"Level drop or dive?" I inquired.

"Diamond, I'm flying a truck full of munitions and dropping four dozen artillery shells on what twenty combat wizards? I'll be using a dive to maximize velocity, but the release is still going to be high up."

"How good is your Load Mistress' thaumaturgy and kinetomancy?" I inquired.

"CopperFang's skill is the only reason I didn't object to this mad-plan."

"That and the chance to see what kind of blast we'll get," Umbra 05's co-pilot said, cutting into the channel.

I was surrounded by war maniacs who wanted to see things burn. "Understood Umbra 05. We'll run escort for you on the run in and make sure the package goes off."

"Appreciated," the VTOL Pilot said.

I switched to the Flight Channel. "Okay, you've all heard the outlines of this plan. Questions?"
"Wouldn't it be better to just saturate the enemy using our Pilum Projectors?" VioletBlood asked.

"If this works, we'll be dropping a thousand pounds of explosives plus propellant," GreyDawn stated. "If this works."

"Have you done anything like this before?" I asked my longest-serving subordinate.

"About a decade back there was a load of Fuel Cells that were used as an improvised incendiary, but for that, there was time to install a detonator and use a chute to slow it properly."

"Is the plan to use our Verutum Launchers to ensure detonation?" Visha asked.

"Correct. And yes, time is not on our side. Lares and his team are already having to change locations to trail the enemy formation. And stay far enough back," I said as we met up with the ascending Umbra and split out Flight into an escorting formation with two of us to port and two to starboard.

We talked a bit more, ironing out as many details as we could and brought in the Umbra Pilot, Co-Pilot, and Load Mistress. Telemetry from Lares and the other Auxilia helped. The wizards had slowed down a bit, possibly being more cautious.

Using Veils to conceal their nature precluded them from deploying wards. A Pilum strike could have gotten them flat-hooved, but I wanted our initial strike to have a bit more impact.

"Starting descent run," the Umbra Pilot said as she tipped her aircraft into a dive and pushed her engines to redline. An Umbra did have their own weapons, but they were mostly to help support a landing operation or to give some defensive firepower against anti-air attacks.

Matching the descent curve, my Flight spread out and focused our passive scrying forward. My attention split between Lares's ground feed and Occultia and other aerial data of the enemy.

This was the tricky part. Semi-active camouflage or no, a seventeen ton , seventy foot long aircraft was not exactly subtle, at least compared to a quartet of Ritual Plate.

Zephyr pushing horizontally aligned engine pods, the Umbra plummeted. "Angle is good. On approach," the VTOL Pilot said with a tiny strain in her voice.

My display provided a good overlay of the enemy's current position and the Umbra's flight path.

Lares' latest message confirmed his team was in position and had hunkered down.

"Rear ramp opening. Reaching critical altitude in Ten. Nine. Eight. Engine pitching now," the Ventus Centurion clearly enunciated.

I saw the VTOL's engine pods rotate down as the thrust went from pushing the fuselage in a forward dive to providing more of a vertical lift component. Flaps and tail surface twisted as the Umbra suddenly leveled and started to nose up.

"Four. Three. Two. One. Drop. Drop. Drop!" The Pilot's voice was strident and on the third drop a large pallet slipped off the tail ramp and plummeted into the empty night.

Rain buffeted the wrapped artillery shells that were cross-stacked with dividers and tie straps.

GreyDawn and VioletBlood split up and put themselves between the enemy and the Umbra while Visha and myself flared to slow our speed and followed after the pallet, at what I judged to be a prudent distance.

"Package is away, good separation," CopperFang, the Load Mistress, said in a satisfied but strained voice. The thaumaturgically linked tag on the pallet did more than link it to CopperFang's will, it also allowed her to provide its location data and projected course which showed up on my display as a green marker with a dotted line.

"Ramp closing. Delivery away; we are out of here," the VTOL Pilot stated as she pushed her engines and rocketed the Umbra, regaining altitude and most of the speed that had bled off.

"Alignment is good," I said after making sure that Lares was still giving current target data.

"This bastard wants to tumble," CopperFang's voice gasped as she focused her will and magic.

"Just put it into that tiny clearing east of that ridge. You can do it." I assured as the projection adjusted a little bit as the load of explosives hammered down. "That's right, keep the line in the square."

My resolution cleared as I focused on the composite scrying feed. I could see little camouflaged figures in the rain who had to be the mage force. This part of the forest had thinned a bit.

Our aim was to get in the middle of the enemy formation. This was also to give us a buffer in case their progress changed speed, or direction, between the release of the pallet and its impact.

And I watched with mute disbelief as four dozen artillery shells managed to land right onto one of the Diluvians.

"That accurate enough for you!" CopperFang shouted over the channel.

But I had little time to process her words as I was already firing.

It all happened in the time it took the Load Mistress to gloat.

The Diluvian mage was crushed and the straps and wraps keeping the pallet's contents together snapped. Artillery shells began to tumble with several embedding into the ground and a few of their propellant sections shearing off. Another couple mages were killed by blunt impact.

We did not wait to see if the shells would detonate on their own.

Visha and I fired our Verutum Launchers and a brace of evocation "pellets" spread out which we then detonated in energetic blasts. Which blew out and sheared through propellant canisters and shell bodies alike.

And then about half a ton of artillery shells went up. The explosions were far from optimized and blew out in a messy irregular sequence. But it was enough to turn that little opening in the jungle canopy into a full blown clearing wide enough to use as a Landing Zone for a Gladius Heavy VTOL.

Provided you moved some of the broken trees, and had an Explosives Team sweep the areas for unexploded ordnance.

"That is a clear hit!" Lares stated in an enthusiastic, but quiet, whisper.

"Diamond Flight! Make the rubble bounce!" I ordered as we dove in. My display still showed a few.. items moving and some other things that were still at least coherent shapes.

After my last fight with a Wizard, I was not taking any chances when dealing with over a dozen of them. Our Pilum Projectors opened up and weapons-fire designed to take out tanks obliterated anything we could see.

After the second strafe run, we flew up to a higher altitude and gave a more active survey. "Clear, no movement detected. Lares, what about your lads?" I asked.

"I think you got them," the Forest Person admitted over the channel. "A lot of the enemy seems upset and they're moving about."

"Do you need any support getting out?" I asked

Lares paused, presumably to talk with the rest of his team. "No, we can manage!" he hurriedly said.

"Self-reliance is a virtue but don't let your pride get in the way," I mildly stated.

"Oh no, we've been more than willing to call for air support, but we can't take all your time; we're moving right now," he added.

"Excellent, I look forward to working with you when we get back home."

"Uh, yeah. Confirm that," Lares agreed.

Having a bit of a grin at some good networking, I changed my comm channel. "Flight Ops this is Diamond Actual. Scratch Two Diluvian Mage Platoons."

"Understood, Diamond Actual. Glad to hear that plan worked out. Umbra 05 managed to land the rest of their supplies at the fire base."

Short one load of artillery shells. Which hopefully can be made up for by a subsequent resupply. "Any change in tasking?" I asked after checking in on the status of my own Flight.

"Yes, Quirinus' Flight completed their Strike mission. You are to rendezvous with the rest of your squadron," the dispatcher said before she forwarded then repeated a set of coordinates.

I kept in my relief. While a part of me enjoyed independent command, that invariably resulted in my Flight being sent to do all sorts of desperate actions to support Legionaries.

Still, I could not appear too excited to be pulled off of Landing Zone duty. "Who will be providing ground support?"

"A dedicated Sarpedona Ground Attack Squadron has been vectored in to support the other elements from FOB EmeraldInferno," Flight Ops replied.

"Understood." Good. Even with my Polyxo in its current configuration was still a bit less well protected and had less ammunition capacity than a Sarpedona. However, I did have a greater performance curve, especially at higher velocities. It was the classic problem of a generalist, or multi-role, weapon system versus an optimized platform.

Compromises had to be made. The Polydora Multi-Role Ritual Plate had, when compared to a dedicated suit, inferior capabilities in the various roles it could be configured in. Where the Polyxo retained near parity in capability, but at a literal cost in a far more expensive suit.

Training was also a factor. A Polyxo Pilot had to be rated in three types of Ritual Plate combat. That required more training time, both in simulator, live exercises, and additionally greater variety of training. Meanwhile a Sarpedona Pilot could focus all her efforts on mastering a specific role. In this case, the wide variety of ground support operations to help Legionary formations.

I was happy to leave things to the true professionals and I went over to the Squadron command channel. "Quirinus this is Diamond Flight; we are moving to join your formation."

"Glad to hear it, Countess," Prefect Volantes Centurion Artemis Magnus Quirinus's tone was dry. "I heard you had an unconventional bit of artillery spotting."

"It was a group effort," I stated.

"I'm sure it was."

"How did the convoy strike go?"

"It was productive. While you were being... creative, my Flight was rearming our Lance batteries. As was Mercy's Flight on more conventional fuel and munitions. What is your status?"

"We are green, some mild damage." I said before quickly giving a slightly more detailed summary.

"Went a bit heavy on the Pilum?"

"I did not want to leave an intact Combat Mage force behind," I stated.

"Understandable, good. That's as good use of force as I could have asked for. It took a bit to get you peeled away, but you are one of My Flights."

Sipping some water, I had a moment of pride in her confidence. And then I went cold and had to concentrate a bit to keep my flight vector. "What's the target?"
"You were right, Countess."

That did not reassure me.

"The Diluvians are focusing on the House Crocelli garrison in the town of Vhin. They've made several assaults on the airfield already. And are making a concerted push."

"Was all of this a flanking maneuver on their part?" I asked.

"Possibly, maybe they wanted to hit Vhin from two fronts. Maybe they wanted to position troops to block us from providing support. They had enough missile batteries to make things awkward for us if you didn't help take out the lion's share."

"Enemy air assets?" I inquired studying the tactical data we have over Vhin.

"At least a squadron of Cadiz Ritual Plate. The garrison forces drove them off which implies either the Diluvians are being sensible or they were waiting for a solid push."

"Could be either way," Mercy added, the Primus of Second Flight chiming in.

She was right. House Crocelli had some Alecton-sourced Archer Ritual Plate at that Garrison. The Archer was an easy to fly, cheap to maintain, budget model, by RP standards, which for low level work was sufficient. And the Cadiz was House Trosier's equivalent.

Except, unlike being a purpose built low-cost efficiency export, as was the Archer, the Cadiz was an earlier generation training and ground support Ritual Plate. It was one of House Trosier's first domestically produced models, built with no small help from House Ziox. Their designers and mages took the reasonable step of making a simple and robust design, but unlike subsequent generations, the Cadiz lacked the modularity, and thus ability to take future upgrades, that was a hallmark of serious Ritual Plate designs.

"Trosier does have warehouses full of the things, and training only eats up so many a year," I noted.

"It's not just Trosic leftovers. Our Occultia friend detected what might have been emissions from a Flight or two of Zioxan suits."

"They are providing training, why not hardware? Greida, Satori or even Tjardu?" I asked, picking some common House Ziox models. The Greida was their previous generation ground attack model which had been relegated to a trainer. Unlike Trosier, they did not have a massive stockpile of this model, as they had quickly moved onto building its replacement, the more capable and flexible Satori, which could work as a ground support unit with some strike capacity. The Tjardu was less likely as it was their latest air-superiority model; it was more expensive, and thus more surprising to encounter out of Zioxan hands but it was still a possibility.

"At least some were Greida, but some had emissions and performance curves that exceeded the standard output of that model," Quirinus promptly replied.

"Have Harmonia or equivalent assets been requested? Should they?" I asked. It was always nice to be in a military where asking superiors questions was encouraged. As this channel was limited to Quirinus and her Flight leaders there was no undermining of her authority in front of the rest of the squadron.

"My, you are a thorough one," Quirinus mused as my Flight moved into position, giving her a full squadron once more.

"She does have some experience with Trosic suits," Mercy noted.

"More than some," Primus Caenis, Quirinus' wingwoman, and her assistant in running First Flight, said.

It was always good when someone else touted your accomplishments. I studied the updated map of Vhin and the Garrison. It was easy to fall into the illusion of omniscience, especially when an Occultia was in theater.

"That we're seeing Zioxan hardware is new. Plus, I just spent the night helping blow up a lot of Trosic material and two Diluvian Mage Platoons - meanwhile you took out a whole convoy. The enemy is willing to spend a lot tonight."

"You think this isn't just them sending some Ritual Plate to erode the air base?" Quirinus was skeptical. During our time in FOB EmeraldInferno we had taken out a lot of Diluvian RP Pilots. But, Quirinus was professional enough to not discount the enemy's capabilities in her eyes, despite our earlier successes. The Diluvians were fighting for what they considered their land, and to force out foreign occupiers. That their efforts were supported by other Great Houses, and that they had a clear resource-rich asset they could profit from if they won were beside the point. The Diluvians were motivated and had managed to survive despite reprisals from House Crocelli.

"Maybe not just that, but I saw enough Toulon missiles and their Villeneuve. I think they mean to contest their airspace, maybe do more than that locally."

"Things are tight, but you raise a good point," Quirinus allowed. "I'll see what I can get out of Flight Ops. I'll share my preliminary plan based on what we know of the enemy and see what you all can find. I'll then link into Crocelli's comms but they've been having troubles."

I kept in a sigh. Our esteemed local allies supposedly had a capable communications system. It was equipment they had purchased from House Alecto, but even with Alecton assistance their maintenance and procedures were not up to Great House standards.

Primus Caenis, Primus Mercy Gabinus, and I looked over the map and made a few points, having some quick back and forth.

"It's a problem of goals and capability," Caenis said. "We're not here to fight this far for them."

I held my tongue at that. I had lifetimes of history of seeing Imperialistic powers trying to hold onto satraps subject to internal revolution. Win or lose, it ended up a mess. On the upside both House Alecto and House BlackSky seemed to be rather rational in aims and scope.

"The Eastern Interior Confederation is not our problem," Mercy stated. "But if the Vhin Garrison falls that will make multiple of our Forward Operating based open to flanking and possibly encirclement."

Which would then reduce the defense in depth we had around the Emma Mine Complex and the Oraje Refinery. The main reason why House BlackSky cared, and even a major contributor to Alecto's interest. Concessions from the rare metals the mine produced were a major source of hard currency that House Crocelli used to purchase arms, mostly from Alecto. BlackSkyvian weapons were a bit too expensive for their tastes, as were much of Alecto's catalog.

"The ground support and strike elements we can do are limited. Even if we get solid comms with garrison forces, they simply have not been trained to work with us," I reminded. It was a point of pride that the Imperial Legions integrated calling down air support at the lowest possible levels. Ritual Plate was assigned organically at the cohort level, which meant that a bog-standard Centurion had a pool of RP to often as not call down fire to support her Century and to help coordinate air defense.

Few Great Houses had as much airpower, let alone Minor Houses.

"At least we're all passable in Bantish," Mercy allowed. Due to their close Alecton ties, House Crocelli had Bantish as one of their official languages, and used it as their official military tongue.

As such, we had been given a crash course as part of our familiarization training before our transfer to this theatre. Thankfully the Alecton language had enough similarities to Dutch that myself and Visha could use our knowledge of Germanian as a vague bootstrap. Also growing up in Amber Island did give her some experience. Meanwhile, VioletBlood was already fluent due to having private tutors, and GreyDawn had already served multiple tours alongside Alecton forces.

"Yes, yes, and we are allowing for a far greater margin this time," Caenis said, a bit stiffly.

"Agreed." I wondered if her attitude was due to if the worst happens and there was friendly fire on our part, it would be Minor House soldiers dying. Despite being nearly as wasteful, Black on Blue fire was mentally easier to accept than Black on Black. "However, I would think a force heavier Harmonia or other air superiority configured suits would be better suited."

"Alas, we are what is available," Quirinus stated as she returned to the channel. "Flight Ops has a Harmonia Squadron refueling and rearming and will be sent back up. Upside, the brass horns are worried that the Diluvians have built up or purchased more airborne assets. Downside, they're still thinking where the Diluvians will be using them."

"Having us weaken the defenses around the refinery by committing our squadrons elsewhere could be their goal," I noted. It was a rather cold-blooded way to fight, sacrificing your own units to draw out the enemy, but Oraje was a massive complex and one that was of very high value.

"Hence the concerns. Still, there is motivation to helping the Vhin Garrison." Quirinus paused to go over our plans and made a couple adjustments and confirmed we knew them. The plans were all very fluid. At the moment there was something of a lull in combat around Vhin. "Okay, disseminate to your Flights. For the moment, my Fight will be reserving our Lance capacity, which means targets of opportunity will be key. But remember the Garrison's own forces will be doing attack runs."

I then switched to my Flight channel and briefed them, as well as adjusting our vectors and having us take the leading edge of the Squadron's formation.

"We're going to be the ones doing the target scouting," GreyDawn noted.

"Our Flight does all have Gorgon Rigs," VioletBlood stated.

"Obviously," I said, not at all waspishly.

"Primus, how concerned should we be about the possible Zioxan Ritual Plate?" I had to give Visha credit, she was able to present my main concern in a way that did not undermine the chain of command and reflected her own experience.

"Reasonably. While I can see why the Diluvians would want something better than a Cadiz, a Zioxan suit would require more retraining." While there was a lot of commonality between Zioxan and Trosic Ritual Plate in design and development history, jumping from one House's suits to another's was a steep learning curve, especially for green Pilots.

"Then... mercenary pilots?" Visha asked as we started to approach Vhin. The town was beside a river and served as a natural crossroads with the Garrison looming above it on a clear-cut hilltop, complete with a pair of runways cut into the leveled and graded terrain.

"Expensive, but if they only want them for a mission or two, it could be worth it," VioletBlood allowed. Our formation had spread out, to maximize the intake from our Gorgon Rigs. While our suits were not perfectly invisible, especially with the pounding rain, our passive scrying intake was still enough to add more resolution to the composite tactical display.

One upside of the torrential downpour meant that Vhin was not going to burn down. It was disheartening and wasteful that one of the Diluvian advances was coming through the town itself. And in avoiding the ground attacks from the Garrison's Archer RP suits, fixed-wing aircraft, and light artillery, they had gone into various residential and commercial buildings. Which had done little to deter House Crocelli.

It was a mess.

But despite being outnumbered the Garrison seemed to be holding. Though they had just lost a ground attack aircraft to a swarm of Toulon missiles.

Lovely.

After tying in the Flight leader channel, Quirinus raised the Garrison's flight controller. Her Bantish was clipped and professional as she updated our position and status to the local forces. And then the rest of her Flight Leaders did the basic handshakes to link up with the Garrison.

It was rough and ready but at least it kept us from having to call our Flight Ops and then have Flight Ops talk to the garrison.

Ominously, the Garrison's flight controller did not have much new information to give us; worse, she sounded nervous.

"There is a heavy mortar battery, but its got some air defenses," the Garrison's dispatcher awkwardly said. It could only be partially blamed on her own limited command of Bantish. Still, she managed to give the coordinates with clarity.

And they did match up with an enemy location on our display. On the far side of the river and a bit upstream, the Diluvian position was outside of the range of the quite anemic light field guns of the Garrison. Their fire was rather inaccurate at that range, but seemed of little concern.

"Okay girls, we'll go with Option 2," Quirinus stated after switching to just the Squadron channel.

I talked with my own Flight on our channel. We were to be at the front and would act as a screen to take out the enemy's long range air defenses, while allowing for two members of Flight 1 to come in for a Lance Strike.

We had just started to change vector, when a heavy squadron or Ritual Plate took to the air. I frowned as our Gorgon Rigs helped resolve what they could from the scrying intake.

"We have Zioxan suits. Based on those climb rates and that emissions control we're seeing Satori or Tjardu models," I calmly stated, ignoring the growing apprehension in my stomach.

"Confirm, Diamond," Quirinus stated. "Change of plans."

And then a transmission came over the Open Channel. The one that used an unencrypted protocol known to all the Diyu Houses. "Countess DiamondDust, you killed my sister," a voice purred in Silvan Latin with a slight Zioxan accent.

I blinked. No. How would she even find me? And why spend so much effort on a personal grudge?

"Is this that Samoth woman CSR warned you about?" GreyDawn asked over a private channel. "She actually went mercenary?"

"Don't be so shocked," Samoth Rodswor laughed. Well, she sounded enough like the War Mistress. "There are only so many all-Polyxo Legion Squadrons in the Eastern Interior Confederation. You ruined my family name so you could scramble out of the muck. I intend to return the favor."

I sighed. And all it would take would be getting a picture of one of us without a helmet on at FOB EmeraldInferno or maybe even on leave.

"Primus DiamondDust," Quirinus pointedly said over the squadron channel. "Much as I love it when military matters are sidelined by nobility with hurt feelings. I trust we will all take out this dilettante out for revenge with little fuss? No sword or fireworks this time?"

The Zioxan Ritual Plate squadron leveled out and took up a reasonably coherent formation. Depending on their equipment, they might have the edge on us in maneuverability and air to air power. They also had the advantage of an anti-air system behind them, which, if properly integrated, gave them a severe positional advantage.

However, that this Samoth was using psychological warfare as a first move indicated a degree of pride or desperation.

"You could blow her out of the sky with a Skofnung stuffed full of Vel Missiles for all I care." Grinning to myself, I exhaled, knowing I was speaking to the whole squadron. There was no need to actually talk back to the enemy. If they expected a head-to-head duel then House Ziox really had no comprehension of how House BlackSky actually conducted war.

"Tell you what: whoever kills this blowhard, I'll cover your drinks for the next time you get a three-day pass. And..." I purred. "If I manage to kill her, then I expect all of you to chip into the squadron coffee fund, no more of the cheap stuff."

End Chapter 12

Well... if it isn't the consequences of Tauria's actions. (And I'm not just talking about the late War Mistress). In this chapter I wanted to show exactly why the Forest People were so valued as Scout Auxilia by House BlackSky (to where they were given dispensation to retain their ancestral lands) and show more of just the total mess that such "bushfire" wars can be.

Special thanks to especially to DCG, Ellf, Green Sea, Readhead, and Preier for checking and reading over this chapter.

And special thanks to Readhead for the pallet drop idea.

Update: And we are now 3/4 done with this little re-update package. It's gotten easier given as time passed I had more and more people actually helping me edit this thing.