While Project Grand Slam continued on track, no one knew that President Olfrank of the Unified States was lying dead in a large pool of blood on the floor of his bedroom, stabbed dozens of times in a blind rage by a young girl. While drugged and tied up with a gag in his mouth. The girl had long since fled, and with a change of clothes had hitchhiked far away and was never seen again.

The war room in Berun did not know this, nor did Tanya, Visha, or anyone else. When the body was finally discovered by an aide in the early afternoon, who suspected that the president perhaps had fainted, several phone calls later the top leaders in his communist party decided to pretend he was still alive, but incapacitated, and to rule in his stead as a junta. On the heels of the Protection Squadron massacre of the Green Rangers, their first major decision was that since the nation was poised for war, and deeply in debt because of the preparations, that the war should commence, in that it would cover a litany of sins, and they would obtain a lot of wealth to pay for it all in the process.

Plus there was tangible fear that unless the Protection Squadron was sent away until order was restored, they might very well launch a coup against the government and appoint their own dictator, as did the Praetorian Guard of old. That vast numbers of New Ispagnians were to be slaughtered in the process was no great worry, especially if the Unified States were to remain Olfrank communist with the junta as its elite leaders. They were more than willing to smash all those eggs to make themselves an omelet.

There were some words between Visha and the war room in Berun, with her assuring them that Olfrank had been left very much alive, excepting a broken wrist. And nobody seriously considered calling a halt to the operation. In any event, Operation Mirror was now underway. It was called this because very similar operations were being carried out in the far southeast and far southwest Unified States.

Phase one was to land mages, with two goddesses in each hostage camp, a swamp and a desert, in case someone tried to detonate the mana bombs. Some time before, Tanya was befuddled how goddesses seemed to take three times as long to learn how to fly with self propelled gear than even weak mages, but they finally managed to do so, so would fly in themselves, under escort. Combat mages would be sent in at the same time to exterminate camp guards and managers, with no shortage of volunteers for that assignment from the Russyan mages who thought of themselves as angels of death against gulag guards. Tanya gave them all the extra assignment that whether or not the mana bombs were not detonated, they should be spirited away and disarmed, then dropped at sea, and there were very good reasons for this.

Phase two was of amazing audacity, to steal two fleets of warships prepped to transport invasion troops, and use them to instead take all the hostages to freedom. This was why the tramp steamers were filled with Naval warrant officers and able seamen. With Naval Marines to secure the warships and keep them secured. The mirror image of this were Dominion Navy personnel brought in by submarine. In both cases the ships were stocked and fueled, but otherwise empty waiting for orders from the Green House, as were the infantry sitting idle waiting for their orders to board, in camps miles away from the ports.

And Tanya's orders to the Naval teams were that if a warship couldn't go under its own power, to scuttle it.

What was originally called phase three, was later decided to be its own separate project, to be carried out by just Tanya, with her Viper security team backing her up, which to avoid confusion she just called Project "K". And nobody but her, her team and Dr. Schugel knew what it was, other than it was to take place in the heart of the invasion force before they began their invasion.

Otherwise, the false information had been fed to the Russy backing communists at all levels of government and business, and like good fanatics they had taken it without question. Already on hostile terms with President Olfrank and his heretical version of communism, they were not surprised at all with the idea that he intended to tear down his communist system in the Unified States and replace it with the capitalism that had thrived before his reign. So when the invasion begun, they were going to broadcast this re-institution of capitalism everywhere, so that the great numbers of real communists among the masses in the nation would rise up, depose him in a revolution and impose Russy style communism. To aid them in this they would come out of the woodwork and assassinate every heretical communist leader they could catch. A plan that, except for the last part, was utter delusion on their part.

Little did they know that a list of the names of every Russy supporting infiltrator was going to be delivered to the headquarters of the Protection Squadron shortly after they did this. Yes, the bloodbath was going to be spectacular, the Squadron eliminating them with the same savagery they had used on the Green Rangers.

Major General Kobayashi was the commander of the ground forces in the rescue of Dominion subjects on the west coast. He was on board the submarine Musashi with his select "black battalion" of combat mages who specialized in night combat operations, the best of the best in their black flight gear, and intensely trained for this mission. While very loyal to the general, knowing him as brilliant, they were also of the belief that like his disciplinarian deputies, he must be a hard man himself. So at they were dismayed at his acting like a doting parent of the two petite little twin blond girls before them.

However, word quickly got around that these were not ordinary girls, but goddesses. Most of what was known of such girls was based on wild rumors surrounding Tanya-sama that floated around the military, each more improbable than the last, until someone would step forward to confirm it, as having seen it themselves, whether or not they had. Among other stories was that when she had visited the Imperial throne room, the plain surfaces suddenly shimmered as if covered in gold leaf, and the artwork for the moment was seen in shades of gold, before she imparted the blessing of heaven on the Emperor and his descendants for the second time in history. Many of the iron soldiers began trembling in awe, and yes, fear.

Then the general spoke to his elites to say that these girls will be flying with you, and their purpose is to protect your countrymen held captive by the evil ones. You must protect these goddesses at all costs, even while smiting those demons who loom in a menacing fashion over them. The unit answered as one in the affirmative. Then the general left the room with the girls as his subordinates once again went over the details of the plan to take the camp, rescue the hostages, transport them across the border, drive to the coast and board them on ships to return them to the Dominion.

For three days an unimpressive ship was anchored off the southern west coast, but one after another they unloaded large boats into the water, after equipping them with engines. Soon the ship was surrounded by many such boats all lashed together. Then one after another, submarines surfaced and deployed their passengers who went to a given boat. Eventually all the boats had crews and were untied from each other. Then as a group they all departed in a single direction.

And with some variations, the tramp steamers did the same off the central east coast. Both boat flotillas headed for where the eastern and western fleets of the Unified States rested in their docks. Then at a given time, the "black battalion" on the west, and perhaps twice that many Imperial Naval Marines (crossed cutlasses), but dressed as Russy mages, on the east. Once airborne, the only battle cry they were permitted to use was the Russy "Ura!", but on deck the last they heard of their own languages was the signal to take off, the Dominion Navies' "Tora! Tora! (expletive) Tora!", and the Imperial Marines cry of "Gott Mit Uns!"

On the docks, just skeleton crews were aboard ships, and even the traffic management command building just had a few men working there on either port. In the east, an older man named Boyd had just sat back in his chair with a fresh cup of coffee, when the door flew open and four heavily armed men wearing unusual uniforms burst in, detained the other three men with minimal fuss, as he sat there sipping his coffee peacefully. He calmly watched them cut the phone lines, smash the radios and other equipment, and finally when one signaled for him to stand up, he took one last chug of coffee, set his cup down, stood up and put his hands behind his back. Then the men left, so he figured it would be about four hours before the next shift arrived. Nobody got killed, and he was too close to retirement to care.

The mage team raiders on various ships had more or fewer problems, but the most that resulted were some black eyes among the crews. Escorted on to the docks where they were secured, they were still startled by the flotilla of boats suddenly arriving next to ships. The men that disembarked went directly to the ships. It didn't take long for them to figure out that they were stealing those ships. And not long after their mooring lines were slipped, and they started to move out of their dock, one after the other.

In truth, there were just enough raiders to get the ships that were not scuttled out of port. But once that had been accomplished, they were joined by many other sailors at sea, and in both cases headed south down the coasts.

In the southeast, the general Protection Squadron (lesser) guarding the camp were put down quickly, like dogs, but when the camp commander thought he was detonating the mana bomb beneath the camp, nothing happened. In frustration, he pushed the switch several times before a bullet tore through the side of his head. In that case, the goddesses were not needed, because a quick thinking mage had cut the wires to the bomb. Once disarmed, it and the two goddesses were escorted away with all due speed. It wasn't too far a walk from the swamp to the beach where landing craft were waiting to take the hostages to the ships. Small children, the old and infirm were carried there by mages.

On the southwest, some of the Protection Squadron (lesser) tried to mount a defense against the black battalion, which was no contest, then tried turning their guns on the Dominion civilians, which made the soldiers of the black battalion angry. They soon learned that black battalion mages all carried two razor sharp Wakizashi shorts swords as part of their standard gear, and at high speed they will cut a head off cleanly.

Because it would have been too long a walk to both get south of the border and then to hike to the coast, there had been an effort by all three allies to get all manner of trucks that one after the other were loaded with men, women and children. Enough so that the last of the hostages, mostly adult men, were not overcrowded. The whole group were shielded the whole trip by invisible flying mages.

Not knowing how to get in touch with President Olfrank, the Unified States military high command got so frustrated that some admirals even drove to the Green House, only to be told that the President was ill and resting and would not take visitors. The junta was not operating from the Green House, and so were unaware that they had lost both of their fleets, when they issued the order for the land invasion to commence. Having mostly academic, not military backgrounds, they assumed that once the order was given it would be carried out without delay, with no further action needed on their part.

The northern invasion forces into New Ispagna took far too long to get organized. Just fueling up their tanks, tracks, trucks and aircraft was estimated to take half a day. The small number of artillery spotter mages were sent early, to plot targets, checkpoints, and to confirm highways and roads. All ordinary, but time consuming stuff. After a few hours, the rear echelon Protection Squadron (greater) was anxious for the first echelon to get moving. Being mages, they were a cut above their psychopathic prison guard peers and thought they could hold their own in a fight. But training is not the same as experience.

Meanwhile, in the major cities of the Unified States, including the capital, the order was issued to the Russy sympathetic communist infiltrators to begin the revolution by assassinating as many of the heretical communist followers of Olfrank as possible. Two hundred or more politicians and governors were killed within hours, typically with a single bullet in the back of the head. But business executive, journalists, military officers, police chiefs, college professors, diplomats, and many bureaucrats were also dispatched. Most of the junta had themselves fallen victim.

And then at the headquarters of the Protection Squadron (greater), they received a comprehensive list of the Russy communist infiltrators who had been carrying out the slaughter, and it was turned around on them as had happened to the Green Rangers. Squadron leaders were determined to achieve eradication of the Russy communist infiltrators in the entire nation.

In the midst of the invasion preparations, mostly complete, Colonel Tanya von Degurechaff, surrounded by her equally invisible Viper security team, was standing in the middle of the invasion forces, specifically in the middle of the tank farm itself in the middle of the invasion forces. With a briefcase. In an unexpected, driving rain.

In the briefcase was a complicated detonator locking device, made to insure that once unlocked, with a five step process, it was extremely hard to again render it safe. Though it was also terribly hard to unlock it in a hard rain. It was taking too damned long.

Likewise it had an advanced timer that needed to be set. Tanya wanted a half hour to escape, that even flying at a lower speed, she wanted plenty of time to get her and her team out of there. The reason to do so was simple. In that briefcase was a "number three".

It was at the worst possible time that one of the Viper team, Vizefeldwebel (Sergeant First Class) Krumholtz, acting as a flying picket to the north, suddenly came under fire from a battalion sized element of Protection Squadron (greater) mages. His invisibility had been compromised by the rain, so they were able to see him and opened fire. However, based on experience, he believed they had only seen him, not the rest of the team or Colonel Degurechaff on the ground, so he was trying to lure them away into the desert so they could continue their mission.

Tanya agreed with his logic, and told him to fly as fast as he could as far as he could, while keeping the enemy engaged, that when done, she and the rest of Viper would fly away on a different route. If he makes it away, something she thought almost impossible, they would link up in an agreed upon town in western New Ispagna.

So far in the fight, Krumholtz had already been seriously wounded, but he had also killed six enemy, yet they were learning and adapting so fast that it had an almost Rhine Front intensity. He figured if he wounded one of them, another would be needed to fly him away. The rest of Viper listened to his account of the ongoing battle intently. Then Tanya announced that the device had been set with one half hour to detonation, so everyone needed to retreat as fast as possible. Krumholtz acknowledge and said he was retreating, but it was a lie, because he knew he had been mortally wounded. With insult to injury, he had also been hit by a ground based anti-mana weapon, and he was losing altitude.

Instead of landing on the ground, he had spotted what looked like a cave and figured if he could hide in there, the enemy would run out the clock, in a literal sense, and if they found him, he would destruct his computational jewel, blowing himself up, and the enemy near him to bits. And if he died in that cave and wasn't immediately found, the cave would fill with muddy water and conceal his remains, denying the enemy proof of a kill.

Fading in and out of consciousness, he had no idea if the Colonel or Viper team members could hear him, he described how much he respected the Colonel, and liked his teammates, the honor of having served in the Legion, and how patriotic he felt towards the Empire. They could hear him and were choking back their tears. Then they had to shut down their comms just before the detonation, so missed his final words, that from his cave he could see all those enemy mages buzzing around in the sky above like angry insects, looking for him. And then there was a very bright flash of white light and just for a moment he saw them disintegrate mid flight.

Since that time, a prominent terrain feature in the Unified States is called the great bowl of black glass and steel. It covers about 600 square kilometers and forms a circular shape. It is slowly eroding, the melted steel now covered with a reddish brown layer of rust. In its middle is a salt lake, formed when a small portion of a giant salt dome beneath it liquefied and pushed its way to the surface, forming a lake of liquid salt. When it cooled, rains came and formed a water lake on top of the salt. The locals who dwell near the bowl call the place "Armageddon".

Far to the south of the blast, and well out of the blast area, the effects of the blast were still strong, with Tanya and the rest of Viper team feeling debilitated, flying much slower than normal and at a lower altitude. But this allowed them to see another group of mages sitting on the ground, or sleeping. They were recognizable as Unified States artillery spotter mages, and were so exhausted they couldn't get excited even in the presence of what were likely hostile foreign mages.

One of the Lieutenants in Viper happened to speak their language so asked them "what's up?". The soldier replied that when that big explosion happened it stripped their mana away, leaving them "as weak as kittens." He continued by saying, "If we are now prisoners, we can accept that, but the only way we can move now is to walk, and then not much, until our mana recovers."

Tanya pondered this then took the Viper Lieutenant to one side and spoke with him. So he returned to the soldier and said in his language, pointing with his finger that there was a small village about one and a half kilometers in that direction, and maybe they can get some food and water there, once they were back on their feet again. "Uh, thanks", the man replied. "By the way, who are you?," he asked the Lieutenant, who returned to Tanya, then came back with her answer.

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

"Huh?", the soldier replied. Then Tanya and her team left.

When asked about why she spared them later, she replied, "I get no joy out of kicking crippled kittens."

It was a long trip for Tanya and Viper flying to the gulf. For some time the Yamato had been monitoring the chaos in the Unified States. The Russy communists were murdering the Olfrank communists, the Protection Squadron in turn was rounding up and executing the Russy communists. The military seized power from the few survivors of the junta, then set up a temporary military junta government until elections could be held. Whoever was running the military was smart, wanting a quick transition back to civilian rule; and at the same time offering an amnesty to the Protection Squadron that most of them could rejoin the military as it was being disbanded, with only a few being criminally prosecuted. The official story had changed several times, but it was now that President Olfrank had died in his sleep.

The intelligent consensus was that the Russy Federation was responsible of trying to foment a Russy style communist takeover, but it had collapsed due to the efforts of patriots, but at the loss of many lives. Thus, while not actively at war, a mood of distrust and aggression existed for the foreseeable future between the Unified States and the Russy Federation.

But according to the war room in Berun, there still remained a problem of what to do with all those prize ships. While of course they would be looted for innovation and technology, their existence made a more lasting peace much harder, so the consensus was that they should be discretely scuttled. Tanya, while in agreement, had an idea so it would not be a total loss.

She knew that while currently, submarines were fairly primitive, in the future it was likely that they would become common and dangerous war boats.

To counter surface ships, flying Marine mages and aircraft were effectively neutralizing them to a great degree, but despite some simple and modestly effective anti-submarine weapons, submarines could for now function unmolested. The way to change this would be with underwater combat mages. She figured to start, versatile underwater mini-submarines, scuba gear, mana weapons that would work underwater, and most important, trained underwater naval mages.

Typically, with the right equipment, a technical dive could only descend a mere 60 meters. But what if an underwater mage, with a swift underwater vehicle, could descend to 300 meters, surrounded by the pressure of thirty atmospheres, yet still function and use their weapon?

This meant she needed to pay another visit to the Naval Office of Research and Development as well as the Office of Scientific Intelligence. Her idea was that after removing the toxic chemicals from the ships, they would be scuttled on natural underwater steppes, in the cold waters off the northern Empire, and the warmer waters of the Dominion and Ildoan Kingdom. Then with the help of a few goddesses, the ships would be made magnets for all variety of sea life that would thrive there, including some dangerous ones. The least interesting ships would be highest up, well within the range of recreational divers. But the lower you descended, the more interesting things would get. Inside the deepest ships would be prizes for the divers who made it that far, as well as enlistment as a "Selkie", a naval underwater mage.

As an added bonus, the bounty of seafood produced by such an artificial reef would be a tremendous boon to the fishing industry.

As might be expected of a fishing and diving people, the Dominion produced more underwater mages than the Empire, but the Ildoan Kingdom unexpectedly produced far more than the others combined. And while, of course, few underwater mages were good enough to become Selkies, the popularity of mage diving was so great that there were many academic and commercial jobs for the rest.

The Imperial navy hiring Ildoan Master Selkies to protect their surface ships was fundamentally different from how the Dominion used them, as a submarine launched offensive and defensive system. Their swift vehicles went through many iterations quickly in a dozen different directions.

And quietly, Tanya crossed trained two dozen of her flight mages for waterborne and amphibious operations. They quickly figured out a new tactic. Normally, when a flight mage plunged into the water, it meant they were a goner. But they would intentionally plunge into the water, rapidly transit a long distance away, then reemerge to take on their enemy from a new angle. It was especially unexpected when they used a decoy to take the plunge, then instead of going down, they would go up. This meant their enemy would be staring down at the water waiting for them to come up, when they descended on them from above, a killing move.

Using goddesses to distribute mana over water was different than from on land. Unlike electricity, a mana field did not ground out on the water, but instead spreads out in a conical fashion towards the bottom. At shallower depths its effects began with a thick algae bloom on the surface, which soon die off and was replaced by kelp and many other sea plants. Deeper down coral grew at a clip a hundred times faster than normal, and was still healthy and robust. Fish entering the area are inclined to stay, as are larger animals.

Dr. Schugel had outdone himself in making computational jewels and operational orbs with extra mana for the Selkies. To start with, their Mark VII mini-submarines were called "Kavitierender Unterwasserlaufkorper", Cavitating Underwater Bodies. They generated a bubble of air that greatly reduced the water resistance around them, so that they could travel at 300km/hr. Likewise their orb mana propulsion could maintain that speed for hundreds of kilometers. With their computational jewel and personal mana they had a detailed virtual display in front of their eyes, so they were not swimming blind, though their vision could be adapted to deep sea operations. Finally they were shielded from the extreme pressure and cold, and had a mana beam weapon that would severely damage a submarine at 200 fathoms.

As a unit, the Selkies in the Legion numbered only a dozen or so. Tanya offered Visha command of the unit. However, a problem arose during her introduction to the team. Sergeant Nero, a large, bearded and hard looking man, a master Selkie from Ildoa, and the center of the unit, had never married because his appearance was so intimidating. Then one day, on the beach, as he sat there on the sand, staring out at the water and praying to God to give him a girlfriend or wife, a young harbor seal sat down next to him and nuzzled his cheek with her snout. From that odd meeting, she followed him around as best as she could, and when he went into the water she danced around him like a ballerina. He didn't think of her as his pet, and made the mistake of telling his peers that she was his girlfriend. Shortly after that there was a fistfight, when they teased him about it.

Since then, she was named Venus and adopted as their unit mascot, and those tough guys did their level best to spoil her. But when Tanya and Visha showed up, all was going well until Visha shook Sergeant Nero's hand. Instantly, Venus flew into a jealous rage, barking, growling and soon chasing Visha around the men, as Sergeant Nero tried to grab her. Finally he tackled her as that very powerful animal struggled and he held her in a bear hug. Tanya and Visha decided to leave the area, which was when one of the other men notice Venus relaxing, her expression changing from rage to contentment.

Tanya and Visha soon agreed that she would remain the Legion's adjutant until a more suitable command became available. Tanya knew that Visha was certain that Tanya was going to make a rude comment about it, so Tanya absolutely refused to do so, biting her lip, instead watching Visha squirm a little.

Ever since Being X had given Tanya the odd proposition that if she were to overthrow the government of the Russy Federation, that he might be willing to relieve her of her curse, she could not get the offer out of her mind. But Being X was such a fickle thing that even if she did do what he said, she could have no confidence in him keeping his word. And after meeting with Sabetay Sevi, she could no longer say with certainty even what the parameters of her curse were, and if Being X would keep those or change them at whim.

However, Sevi did say something else of interest, that both he and Tanya were experiments, and that they were not unique in this, that many other people had been given what he called "blessings", but no matter the outcome, Being X would become bored and lose interest, so abandon them.

The only other experiments that Tanya was pretty sure showed the hand of Being X behind them were that overpowered enemy Colonel who repeatedly tried to kill her, but she eventually killed; that insane girl from the Unified States who went on a positive rampage trying to kill her, and judging how much Tanya shot her, she was pretty sure that she was dead, too. And then there was that vampire she killed, and the bizarre little girl, Leticia Tepes, who Tanya suspected, but had never done anything menacing to her. And finally her dear madman, Dr. Schugel, becoming increasingly deranged about religion, and her sister Tasya, who had clearly been touched by Being X, but had no memory of it. The nine goddesses didn't count as they were man made.

But how many were walking around on this world that she would either have to form an alliance with or fight?

In the meantime, the Imperial General Staff in Berun was learning the expression that "War is Hell, but peace is a mother-." The madness that was the "Peace Party", now ruling in the Commonwealth, virtually disbanding their military, had spread to the exhausted people of the Empire, and was turning an orderly and balanced victory into a chaotic and destructively confused armistice. While its citizens had wisely rejected the radical view found in the Commonwealth, they were very supportive of a more moderate, but still strongly anti-military, anti-nobility party that was showing signs of becoming the next government. Even in the Imperial family it had some supporters, hoping to make the Emperor a figurehead and the Empire a federal republic.

Neither the Legadonia or Francois regions were comfortable or contented in the Empire, and pushed for increasing autonomy, but with growing secessionist movements simmering in the background. So their people there were big backers of the moderate party. Most troublesome was that the International Coalition of Nations, that had become the proxy of the Empire's former enemies, seeking to gain in the peace what they had failed to achieve with war. The dismemberment and destruction of the Empire and the prosecution for war crimes written after the fighting, "attainder by process". This meant redefining war crimes until those who had been following the law were now guilty of having committed crimes that didn't exist when they were carried out.

It also meant that most of the top officers of the Imperial General Staff were now subject to whimsical arrest, and at some point trial and even execution for having won the wars of aggression against the Empire. And with the new elections, it was unlikely the government would protect or even defend them in any way.

To avoid this General Kurt von Rudersdorf decided to seek retirement and become an "elder statesman". General Hans von Zettour opted to go east and act as a military adviser for the Dominion. Colonel Erich von Rerugen had political connections with the moderate party by marriage, so was able to retire and live in a rural area. Many other Generals resigned, and often emigrated.

With a quick promotion to Major General, it was decided that Maximilian Johann von Ugar was to become chief of staff of the shell of what was left of the army, almost by default.

However, before any of them could leave, there needed to be a thorough scrubbing of any records that could be used to prosecute them. The intelligence branch earned their pay in the process by doing an exemplary job of not just scrubbing, but making things look like they hadn't been scrubbed. Volumes were rewritten, omitting names, or incorporating names of long dead officers in the place of living ones. But one name stood out, too obvious for omission, so was replaced by eleven asterisks, and substantial back stories were created to obfuscate what those asterisks meant.

Some veterans were given contradictory "real stories" to use as disinformation if questioned. To muddy the water and eliminate certainty.

Neither Tanya or Visha on Mazotte were privy to what was happening in the Empire. They had been engaged in a grand project on the very large island called Malagasy next to Mazotte. Previously a colony of the Francois Republic, when the Republic fell the Francois colonial government thought to rename it "New Francois", but then, in a fit of jingoism, they decided to eradicate the natives so the island would be "pure Francois." Their means of doing this were grotesque and inhumane, using poison gas, a technique used more than a century before in a different colony.

Even the Francois government in exile was horrified, so sent a military detachment there, arrested, tried and executed most of the colonial government, and ordered all Francois citizens to leave and go to the Afrian Francois colony, abandoning their estates, a futile effort as that colony was soon abandoned as well. This left all of Malagasy uninhabited. Not missing an opportunity, Tanya decided to instead create a second colony for the Empire, carry out her goddess "breadbasket" experiments there and create homesteads for her Legion by importing their families if they had them, and impoverished women and war widows, hopefully with some mage talent, to be their wives if they did not. Her grand scheme was to create an entire nation of mages.

On their return to Berun, still ignorant for the most part, and wearing civilian clothes, they discovered that the primary road to the General Staff Headquarters was blocked, onlookers suggested that it might be for a parade. It was not a parade, but a procession of the horrors of the war wounded demanding compensation.

First came the shot blind. The top half of their faces was extinct and lifeless, only the lower half with their mouth was animate. Not blind from birth, but war, all the sights in their life were still remembered. Their gestures were more violent, and yet more cautious, not yet having adapted to life in darkness. They moved their heads to hear when others spoke. Some still had bandages on their faces, others wearing black patches. Many of them were strong and muscular but to never again feel their strength in work or play. Behind them, helping to guide them, were other veterans who could still see.

Next were those with severe facial and head injuries. Then a large number of leg amputees. Next were the shakers, the shell shocked with permanent body tremor. Then men with one good eye and an arm, pushing those who could not walk on crude wheelchairs. Some of them carried signs that thousands like them were still in the hospital. Others with signs begging for their deserved pensions that had not been given as promised, forcing them to face starvation.

Then in the distance, in the direction of march, Tanya and Visha heard military commands being barked out. They moved to a side street to move faster than through the crowd to see what was happening. What they finally saw was a Corporal, with a squad or two of riflemen, forming a barrier in front of a government building. He was ordering them to get ready to fire a volley at the protesters if they came closer.

Visha could no longer stand it. She left Tanya standing by herself and marched towards the Corporal, and in her best command voice, barked out "Corporal! What are your orders?" Without hesitation, he pulled his sidearm and pointed it at her and yelled, "Madam! You are to return to the sidewalk immediately, or I will shoot you!" Visha was too angry at this insubordination to move, until Tanya grabbed her arm from behind and dragged her back. "Visha!", Tanya plead. "You are not in uniform! Follow his orders or he will shoot you!" Visha was still so angry that she wasn't thinking clearly, so Tanya slapped her across the face.

"Something is going on here! You are not to act until you know what! That is an order!" Visha was starting to get herself under control when, from a different direction, they both heard machine gun fire. The crowd of onlookers reacted, and people started running away from the sound. Within a few seconds, a man ran out from between buildings and said, "The army! The army is shooting at the workers protest!"

Tanya told Visha they were both going back to the car, and on the way had the presence of mind to buy a newspaper. They stopped in a town near Berun where things were quieter, divided the paper between them. It was obvious that just a few days before the elections, things were reaching a boiling point. Berun was in chaos, but very little uncensored news about what was happening. They kept driving and stopped at Dr. Schugel's research facility only to find the buildings deserted, with the gates locked. Being pragmatic, they drove through an isolated part of the fence only to find that all the equipment, even paperwork and books were gone. Looking through the quarters there, they were all bare, even the linens, until she arrived at the room she had stayed in.

On the desk was a nutcracker. "Fair warning," thought Tanya, that Being X is acting to cause the collapse of the Empire.

Tanya decided they would travel to Fiene and there to get some answers. If nothing else, then to get an aircraft to fly them to the Afrian colony. They were both pleased to see that life in Fiene seemed much more normal. Tanya directed them to the office of Dr. Dreuf, and noted that their sign had changed from Mananalysis, to Psychoanalysis. On entering, she saw a great pile of luggage, and then a short time later, Marta Dreuf was hurriedly passing by when she saw them, stopped and apologized before saying that the office was closing.

"We've been out of the country, Dr. Dreuf," said Tanya, "don't know what is going on. Berun is turning into anarchy, so we came here hoping to get some information." Marta explained that weeks before the elections, the government has run out of money, there are riots in the streets and the army has been called out to restore order. "So we are packing up to move to Waldstatte before the borders are closed."

At that point, moving into a common area, Tanya saw Dr. Arthur Adler and Dr. Otis Rank as well as some of their top people. "Is the airport still open?", asked Tanya. "Yes, it is, but only for military use," said Marta. The timing of that statement was good as just about then a young man burst through the door and said that the border was impassable because of the number of people trying to flee, and the army was en route to drive them back.

"How far away is the airport?" asked Tanya. With everyone carrying luggage they managed to quickly load it on a large trailer before climbing onto the military truck towing it. Tanya and Visha got the cases with their military uniforms from their car and changed clothing during the trip. Most of the planes had already been taken, and there were just a few in the maintenance hangar. There was just one man left in the main office, dressed like a mechanic, drinking coffee. Entering the office door behind him, he looked lackadaisical, his feet up on the desk. "Sorry, can't help you. All the planes are gone", he said without looking. And then he looked. He dropped his coffee cup and came to attention, then saluted. "Colonel Degurechaff, Ma'am!" "Who are you?", asked Tanya.

"I'm the pilot assigned to evacuate you, ma'am! Dr. Schugel said that I was to fly VIPs to wherever they wanted to go. I was to wait here until they showed up. I have a large cargo plane ready to go."

Tanya was puzzled. Nobody knew that she and Visha were in Fiena, much less needed to fly out of the country. But before she could say much else, Visha poked her head through the door and said that a bus was coming. "It's a civilian bus, though. I don't see any weapons." Still, Tanya was on edge.

The bus stopped and a man got out. He was carrying a gun in one hand, but relaxed when he saw the pilot wave at him. "He works for Dr. Schugel, too," said the pilot. Then out of the bus came nine very upset looking goddesses, and Tasya. Looking at them and the doctors, the pilot said that he could take all the people, kind of crowded, but there was no way he could take the cargo, all that luggage.

"Can you get as far as the Afrian colony?" He thought a bit and said yes, though not much further. "I'll need to refuel in Ildoa." Tanya then asked the doctors if there was anything vital in their luggage. Not much, just classified patient records, research, and a supply of drugs, a doctor's bag worth, since they were expensive. So after getting the drugs out, with permission from the doctors, Tanya borrowed a jerrycan of petrol, poured it in the trailer, and with everyone loaded on the cargo aircraft and ready to take off, and the engine running, she set the trailer on fire.

After landing in Ildoa, Tanya offered to pay for the fuel with cash from the Empire, but the pilot just laughed and said, haven't you heard, the Empire's paper money is worthless. Pondering this, Tanya felt good that almost all her money in Waldstatte had been converted to Waldstatte Francs, except for the gold. And though while colonial currency was likely still good, she had better diversify her savings there as well, so she could continue to pay her Legion no matter what happens. A hefty bill, but due to very adept investment, one that she could pay far into the future.

But paying for the gas was no problem, as he had a large roll of high denomination Ildoan bills. But neither he nor Tasya and the goddesses knew where Dr. Schugel had wanted them to go, him just saying "Wherever you like. Trust in The Lord to guide you there, as I will trust in The Lord to help me find you when the time is right." Tanya mumbled something to herself about his naivete.

After landing in the colony, Tanya put up Tasya and the goddesses and the pilot and doctors in a nice hotel, and left with Visha to the nearest division command. Tanya was honest in telling the division commanders in a conference call that their units and the Legion were about all that was left of the Empire's army. Fortunately, several of the Empire's newer warships had been making a port call when the word came down, and some of the fleet admirals and command personnel at sea decided to retire here with their ships and crews all of a sudden.

Within two weeks after the election, it was no longer the Empire but the Federal Republic. The Emperor had abdicated. Tanya was somewhat apprehensive about bringing Tasya and the goddesses to Mazotte, but the Legionnaires there were perfect gentlemen around them, (or else!, Visha and Lieutenant Colonel Weiss assured them,) And as a bonus, the pilot had been part of Dr. Schugel's number one operational orbs production process, and had learned how to make them, so Tanya's Malagasy homestead project could begin. Half a dozen homesteads were soon made, and the process had been perfected, with the pioneers adding some finishing touches such as improved roads, when Tanya discovered that Malagasy grew both a low grade coffee and very high quality cocoa.

The coffee experiment was a major success, producing the best coffee Tanya had ever tasted, likewise the already superior cocoa produced chocolate that was so very good that it eventually sold for outrageous prices around the world. Gigantic coffee beans and cocoa pods that were a two man lift.

The strands of mana enhanced ebony, mahogany, and red rosewood, along with less exotic hardwood lumber also brought in the big money for both lumber and furniture. But Tanya's dream was flawed because there was a perpetual labor shortage. Eventually a means was established for widows and orphans to discreetly migrate there from the Federal Republic, the first reason for good husbands and rich farmland, and the latter for an education and productive work that paid good wages. In turn, then unemployed veterans began arriving in great numbers.

Then one morning, glancing out her office window and seeing some of the infantrymen of the legion finishing their morning athletic exercises, Tanya had the idea that some of these soldiers might have other skills. So with the help of Visha and Lieutenant Colonel Weiss, she published a skill assessment questionnaire and discovered she had a lot of masons, carpenters, plumbers, and even electricians, that had been uncommon when they were first enlisted. And she even had a few glass blowers. So buying a lot of equipment and supplies, mostly concrete, in the colony to deliver to Malagasy, she soon had the beginnings of a city underway.

While the goddesses were encouraged to select strong mages to be their husbands, with a homestead and home as a wedding present, they were thrilled, because as orphans, even living on a farm as a servant or worker was a dream almost beyond reach. The idea of having a good husband and being a farm owner was a princess fantasy. When other women started arriving from the depression wracked Federal Republic, most owning only the clothes on their backs, half starved and weak, they were first put into barracks with an adjacent mess hall with unlimited food that now served beef, pork, chicken and goose, plenty of bread and great slabs of fried fish, with beer to drink. Seeing them arrive, the workers redoubled their efforts at home construction, though at first women had to share homes until ones were built for them when they were married. In turn, their most useful work was making garments, shoes, boots and other crafts that had been at a premium.

Very opportune timing, because the refugees from the Unified States in the Federal Republic were in terrible straits, treated as the lowest of the low in their old country, so many worked hard to bring them to Malagasy by the boatload, which meant keeping them in tent cities until housing could be built. But the majority of the men were capable workers, so with adequate supplies first built simple housing then went to work to make better, permanent homes.

A problem was diversity in their agriculture, which had been carefully planned, as there were limits to what they could consume or even profitably export. Just three farms produced all the citrus, fruit and nuts they could use. Just one farm for corn, and two others for wheat. Potatoes and other vegetables in three farms. Animal farms with abattoirs grew and grew for the demand. And of course, plantations for coffee and cocoa, the latter creating their first industry other than lumber, a combination chocolate maker and chocolatier. But with waves of new arrivals, this careful planning had to be changed, expanded for the greater need.

Soon, Tanya had to consider creating a currency to support this. She had a strong, personal bias towards specie backed money instead of dubious fiat currencies, but one of the better young economists at the economics ministry had proposed that instead of limiting it to specie, which were always in shortage, that the list include many other "scarce and useful" non-renewable products. So if, for example, if the price of high quality carbon steel was jumping, the currency would be stabilized by any number of other things, such as aluminum, titanium, precious gems, etc., so it would not be harmed. In doing so, a currency would become so strong and stable that other currencies could use it as a benchmark and "peg". Out of pure sarcasm, Tanya decided that the largest denomination bill they would issue would have the portrait of the former emperor on it. The next largest would have General, now elder statesman, Kurt von Rudersdorf.

This led Tanya to think of the depression catastrophe currently taking place in the Federal Republic. And since she didn't dare to return there under this "Hessian Republic", for fear of arrest, she decided to make some inquiries about that young economist. She soon learned that he had emigrated to Waldstatte, though had not found work there. The East Afrian colony had been functioning autonomously since the collapse of the Empire, and were mostly indifferent when the new government granted it independence unexpectedly, changing its name to just East Afria. But it was still thought of as prosperous, so when the economist got an invitation to attend an economic conference there, air fare and lodging included, he jumped at the chance. He had no idea the conference was of just two people, and was more a job offer, He was to help Tanya create a backed currency "for East Afria", even though it would also be used in Mazotte and Malagasy as well. And since that currency would be "as hard as a diamond", it could be used as a peg for recovery of the Federal Republic from its hyperinflation.

That plan was two fold. First to create a backed currency, called a "pension mark", not a public currency, that would be used to eliminate the immense debt between government and businesses created by the worthless fiat currency currently in use. Then once they were stable, to create a second, backed public currency called an "aurum mark", a gold mark.

Using her connections with the East Afrian government, she had him named the "chief economist" of their government, a position that never existed before, that would give him the credentials to approach the government of the Federal Republic, to be appointed their economics minister. And they would have no idea that Tanya would be sponsoring his ideas from afar. What Tanya wanted for this was, that in exchange for getting their economy in order, they would have to declare a blanket amnesty from domestic and foreign claims of war crimes by Imperial soldiers. No use of "attainder by process" for the new government, nor any agreement or treaty with any other government that used it against them.

The plan worked marvelously. However, until the Federal Republic's economy was fully functional, the number of refugees to Malagasy kept increasing. This included many disabled war veterans, and inclined Tanya to create a major hospital to be run by Tasya in East Afria. Its reputation grew quickly, and soon top doctors from other countries, often motivated by the now international depression, made inquiries about practicing there. Even Dr. Otis Rank and his team moved there to study the long term effects of head trauma on war casualties, though he now also used the title of psychoanalyst.

Likewise, the wealthy and powerful from around the world would go to the hospital for top quality and discreet medical services, which also paid for many poor and indigent patients, which pleased Tasya.

Other than one of the former Imperial admirals using his ship and some as yet untried Selkies borrowed from Tanya to smash a large pirate fleet making problems on trade routes off the coasts of Afria, in exchange for a lot of refined fuel and diamonds, that he used to fund the East Afrian fleet, Mazotte was generally peaceful, as there was little war in Africa for the time being. Since many of the Legion were now supporting themselves and their families on Malagasy homesteads, they had become a mostly inactive reserve. Almost whimsically, one day Tanya asked Visha if she would like to form a government for Malagasy, with the idea of it eventually becoming a nation.

As it turned out, Visha had long imagined what it would be like to do that, and was filled to the brim with ideas. And Tanya was more than happy to turn over the bulging treasury to her, after teaching and testing her thoroughly on economics, planning, social policy, etc. What resulted was a strong blend of the best of the orderly and efficient government of the Empire, and the profound sense of chaotic liberty and Republicanism that had existed in the Unified States prior to Olfrank. With the huge amount of resources closely available in Afria, the future held profound potential. "Government by veterans."

With his field promotion to Colonel, so as to be a peer with the divisional commanders in East Afria, Colonel Weiss also had become the commander of the Legion, which left Tanya with little to do. It was obvious that eventually there would be a great federation of East Afria and Malagasy-Mazotte as well as several other former colonies in Afria, forming a much larger land mass than either the former Empire or the Unified States.

But this short lived boredom for Tanya was relieved with the arrival of some visitors.

A young man with what looked like his younger sister, Sabetay Sevi and Leticia Tepes, along with three other young people, two who looked Oriental but not like each other, and not from the Dominion, and one who looked like a native girl from the Unified States, met Tanya in a coffee shop and Sabetay said that he had met Leticia and then the other three, and like Tanya, they all had been given a "blessing" from the thing that called itself God. They had some interesting stories to tell, and were going to continue to wander around the world looking for others who had been cursed, so if Tanya wanted to join them, she was welcome to do so.

A large memorial was built on Mazotte that had the name of Sergeant First Class Krumholtz and his Viper unit carved into it, and a large metal version of the Silver Wings Assault Medal on display above it. Typically only a flag officer could issue such commendations, but because Tanya had her own separate command, and the commendation was posthumous, by Empire rules she was permitted to issue it.

Living his life on a farm in a rural part of the Federal Republic, Colonel Erich von Rerugen, retired, spent many evenings on his easy chair by the fire, thinking of writing a book about the war, knowing that while the people now just wanted to forget the war, perhaps someday they would appreciate what had happened, at least enough so that it would never happen again. But he could never find the words beyond its title, "The Saga of the Devil of the Rhine: The War Crimes of a Little Girl".