Almost as soon as her unit had returned to their headquarters at the southeastern command, leaving the rest of the Dacian invasion to others, Tanya received a message from the general staff directing her to meet with several officials of the Empire's Foreign Office, which would require her presence for about a week. Directing Lieutenant Weiss to get the 203rd Battalion ready for redeployment, she was then driven to the regional government building, accompanied by Lieutenant Serebryakov.

Their briefing was to the point. The Dacian war had rattled the government of the Kingdom of Ildoa, which was peaceful and generally neutral, and also somewhat aligned to the Empire. But the speed of the war made them concerned about the Empire's future intentions. If the Empire was to become hostile to them, a good general had noted that it would take 25 divisions to conquer Ildoa, and 25 divisions to defend it later, making such an invasion irrational. As such, conflict was to be avoided for both their sakes. So at the request of their government, they wanted a diplomatic meeting at a large hunting lodge in the north of their country, in a beautiful Alpine mountainous region through which flowed the Isonzo River.

Tanya knew of the river as the scene of twelve or so enormous, horrific, but indecisive bloodbaths of battles in World War I on her world, in which the carnage between Italy and Austria was profound, crippling Italy for generations. Yet things were peaceful here, and she hoped to keep it that way.

Since this is a diplomatic venture, why invite me?, thought Tanya to herself. It soon became clear with the appearance of crown prince Umberto. One of the empire's diplomats filled her in. His highness, the king, has heard of your battlefield exploits, and is hoping that the prince, though ten years your senior, might demonstrate interest in you as a potential wife. The trouble is that the prince prefers men over women and girls, confided the diplomat, but the king is desperate for a grandchild.

Tanya took it all in at face value, and because the prince was well versed in military matters, they had much to discuss, especially once he realized that she had no intention of vying for his affections. He did, however, use his culinary staff to offer her some of the best of Ildoan cuisine, thinking of her as underfed. She did enjoy it, in moderation, but was far more interested in coffee and conversation with the prince. Lieutenant Serebryakov, on the other hand became a favorite of the staff, bubbling over with complements while feasting on anything and everything they produced with a seemingly unlimited appetite. Eventually, thinking better of the Lieutenant's health, that she not gain too much weight, Tanya asked the prince if the three of them could stroll the grounds while taking in the beauty of the countryside. The prince suggested that since it was a hunting lodge, perhaps they could go hunting, to which Tanya agreed.

The area was rich with game, and though they had superior hunting rifles, made for the royal family, Tanya and the prince collected volumes of military and political information from each other, the prince resolving to substantially improve the Ildoan diplomatic mission in Berun with an eye to creating much closer ties with its government.

Lieutenant Serebryakov had a different view, however, as her battlefield eyesight alerted her to the fact that at a great distance the hunting lodge was surrounded by menacing characters, likely snipers, spies or assassins. The prince accepted the information stoically, as assassins were a regular part of his life, but Tanya was less forgiving. With his permission, she borrowed one of his hunting rifles, a specially crafted Modello 1891 with premium larger caliber bullets, much higher quality than the typical military rifle and round. She killed two of the stalkers at almost twice the typical effective range, and the prince was so impressed that he gave her the rifle and a case of ammunition as a thank you. He later became known as the king who rebuilt the military of Ildoa from scratch.

After her abbreviated stay, she returned to her unit with a large bundle of the finest Ildoan coffee and chocolate. In return, she offered him some very valuable advice about future Ildoan conflicts with the Turkman Principalities, when Ildoa had decided to settle some colonies in the southern continent. She also suggested some cooperation between the two Afrian colonies, Imperial and Ildoan, for their mutual interests, which he thought was a grand idea.

Feldwebel (Sergeant Major) Joachim Held had known Tanya since she was an officer cadet, and thought of her as his most brilliant student, and after her promotion to Warrant Officer, as a close, personal friend. After hearing of her astounding deeds, he was one of the first to propose her receiving the Silver Wings Assault Badge. Later he thought of her as his personal military fan idol, and did much to encourage others, especially cadets, to see her as the ideal role model of an Imperial officer.

So once she had become a Major and Battalion Commander, he sent her a letter asking that if she had an idle day, the next time she was in the area, could she could come by the cadet academy and give a motivational speech to a room of cadets. To his great surprise, she had such a rare opportunity in the near future, so offered to stop by on a given evening after classes, if that was possible.

Captain Emil Grun was one of the worst rear echelon officers in the Imperial army. Incompetent, abusive, drunken, his officer evaluations should have been awful, but were always good, as his units hoped that with a good review and a promotion and transfer, they would be rid of him, as another unit would poach him away. In this manner he had become a second, then first lieutenant.

Unable to assign him to any useful role, though technically a mage, someone had the idea of placing him in a role common in the Russy Federation, but unknown in the Empire, that of political officer. In Rus, their purpose was to insure communist political conformity in the army. But this role for Grun was the opposite, to identify and inform on anyone with communist tendencies. For once he had found a role that he enjoyed, intimidating and hurting others.

His promotion to Captain, and his transfer to the cadet training corps came when, at a formal, family dinner hosted by his regimental commander, he got very drunk, jumped up on a table in full view of the commander and his wife, pulled down his pants, held up a large fish skeleton to his backside and said, "Look, everyone! I'm a mermaid!" It was later said by those in attendance that his transfer was expedited to spare the regimental commander from having to soil his hands by personally strangling him.

The training corps quickly realized that it was intended that he be dismissed from the army, and certainly not to involve him in teaching cadets. So he was put on duties like equipment inventory and other routine paperwork, duties which he shirked, but otherwise just hung out in the building trying to listen in on other people's conversations, hoping for incriminating information to emerge.

It was during this time that he learned that none other than the Argent, the White Silver, war hero extraordinaire, was going to make an appearance to speak to cadets. Were he to somehow besmirch her name by suggesting she was a communist, or otherwise tear her down, he imagined any number of foolish things, like his rapidly rising in the ranks while commanding a legion of political officers to get revenge on all those that had slighted him in the Imperial army, with even senior officers fearing his wrath. Wealth and power and vengeance, with a bare minimum of work. Just what he wanted.

The evening of her visit, Feldwebel Held had brought in the very best combat cadets across the branches at the academy, not just mages, but infantry, artillery, armored cavalry, and pioneers. And before Tanya's arrival had built their enthusiasm to a fever pitch. Just entering the room, she received a standing ovation from the assembled, with the exception of Captain Grun, standing quietly in the back, in a doorway recess, scowling.

Grun, who knew nothing of her heroics or reputation, curled his lip and sneered to himself that she must just be some high ranking perverted general or politician's mistress used in a propaganda fantasy. And these stupid cadets are believing all the nonsense she is telling them. Won't it be fun to call her out and cast her down, humiliating her in front of all these fools?, he said to himself.

She said that before coming here today, on small cards I wrote some leadership problems that happened to me. I will pass them out to you, and when I call on you, I would like those that got a card to read the problem, then tell us what you would do in that situation. Then I will tell you what I did.

Situations from the Rhine Front, from Dacia, from Norden, soon the cadets were enthralled. And the problems were not just for mages. These cadets, the future of the Imperial army, were making mental notes that would change the doctrinal course of the army for decades. But then, one of the students, who had been looking dour for a while, when asked to read his card, first prefaced it by admitting that he could imagine no way that the problem could be resolved.

He then read the problem. It involved prisoners of war, captured during a rapid critical mission deep behind enemy lines, with hundreds or thousands of lives at stake, that had to be carried out immediately. They could not be taken with on the mission, nor could any personnel be spared to take them to the rear, nor could they be left behind as they would give the alarm and ruin the mission.

The subdued cadets looked at each other and were in silent agreement that the prisoners would have to be killed. Tanya interjected that this was a situation with no easy resolution, no by the book solution, and each of them would have to examine similar situations, and make decisions based on their own ethical character and judgment, fully aware of the consequences if they chose wrong. And the room stayed silent for a minute, almost as if in prayer.

What better time for Captain Grun to loudly blurt out, "You can't ever kill prisoners! That is a war crime! Something only a war criminal or communist would do!"

Tanya quietly lowered her gaze, bowing her head slightly to look at her notes on the podium. Captain Grun marched down the center aisle of the classroom while continuing to berate her. He was oblivious to all the cadets staring at him, their eyes burning with hatred and contempt, teeth clenched in rage.

However, a few cadets in the back were not watching him, but Feldwebel Held, standing in the rear, deathly pale and trembling with rage. Many soldiers seeing a Sergeant Major so enraged, no matter the army, have been so frightened by such a sight that they almost lost continence or fainted in terror. He kept control, however, and quickly followed Captain Grun down the aisle, before taking him under the arm and dragging him out of the room, closing the door behind them.

After sending Captain Grun on his way with instructions not to return, or else, Feldwebel Held returned to the lecture hall and in front of the assembled and repeatedly apologized to Tanya. For her part, though her rage at Grun was just as bad as his, she had kept a calm face, accepted the Feldwebel's apology, then tried to lighten the mood in the hall with some success. She also threw in a small pitch, that the Feldwebel of the army are the masters of the enlisted ranks, and should always be respected and thought of as equal to or greater than senior Majors or Lieutenant Colonels in their competence, authority and ability.

After continuing to speak and again captivating the audiences attention, she ended the evening with another extended ovation, and students debated for weeks what she had said and her arguments in support, which were frequently broached to instructors during class time.

Within a week, enroute to her units next assignment, she received a letter from Feldwebel Held, telling her of the unfortunate demise of Captain Grun. The weekend after her speech to the cadets, the mage branch was conducting some safety line flight training, very similar in many ways to rappelling. A simple rope seat, a "Waldstatte seat" is tied around their waist and between their legs. Then a d-ring is put through the ropes on either hip. At the top point where it is to begin, safety personnel put a looped rope through the d-ring, so that if the rope leading down is tensed, the friction on the ring jumps and the person no longer descends.

Then at the bottom of the site, other safety people, hold the loose ends of the rope, so if the person slips, they just pull the ropes and their descent stops. For mages, the ropes are just a safety precaution for if they lose control in trying basic flight.

Without an invitation, Captain Grun invited himself not just to the training exercise, but to be a flight instructor and safety at the top of the imposing cliff. Feldwebel Held was with the bottom safety crew and watched in silent contempt while standing next to the cadet in charge of the bottom crew. A young red haired female mage, just a little older than Tanya was when she started, but far more timid, had been properly hooked up by the top safety crew. Next to her, unsafely standing on the edge was Captain Grun.

Without thinking, Grun just ran a line through his d-ring, without looping it. The cadet in charge of the bottom crew intensified his stare at the top safety crew. But they looked at each other then just shrugged. The cadet in charge was thinking whether to call a safety halt, when the girl went over the edge and panicked a bit. The ground safety crew immediately froze her descent. But then Captain Grun stupidly lunged at her.

Had he looped his rope, they could have stopped his descent. Had he used his mage ability he could have stopped his descent. But he hadn't flown in years, so he plummeted down onto the protruding rocks and mud below to his detriment, with a loud thud, before sinking into the now red mud.

The cadet in charge paused for a while, then said, "well, scheisse." Feldwebel Held also said nothing for a while, then just "scheisse." The assistant to the cadet in charge, that other cadets called his henchman, named Burt, just grunted. He was a mage, but he had the body of a weight lifter, so he chose to go into the infantry. Finally, after a long pause, the cadet in charge said, well, we must do something, so he ordered Burt to go get the medics. Burt looked disgusted, then pointed to himself and said me? To which the cadet in charge told him to get going.

He walked slowly away, at a shuffle, while mumbling, "I get all the scheisse jobs."

The Imperial army never again filled another position of political officer.

Eventually the young, red haired mage became a good combat mage officer, and was well respected by her subordinates, though she was a stickler for flight safety rules.

Tanya was hard at work in the paperwork of battalion organization, an endless flood of documents which Visha dealt with seemingly effortlessly. Reports, requisitions, personnel, commendations and administrative punishments, typically small, she thought gratefully. But because Visha had been sent on an extended task, she had to deal with it herself. Late in the morning, on a warm, sunny weekend, so thankfully most people were gone.

The duty officer, an otherwise undistinguished second Lieutenant, knocked on the door and when given permission to enter, approached Tanya and said that she had a visitor who was waiting in the duty office. She asked me to give you this card, presenting it to her. Tanya went rigid when she read its simple message, "Deus lo Vult."

After being told to wait a few minutes before escorting her to the office, Tanya armed herself in several ways, and was ready to spring into action when the knock on the door came again. "Enter", she said. Into the office walked a young girl. It took several moments of staring before Tanya realized that this girl was almost identical to her, except for wearing a civilian dress and having a crucifix around her neck.

The girl spoke. "My name is Tasya Degurechaff, and I believe I am your sister."

Realizing that the second Lieutenant was staring at the two of them in awe, Tanya dismissed him with a little extra authority in her voice. Composing herself, she offered her guest a seat. She continued to speak.

"I was left at an orphanage in the southern Empire, and there I stayed for years until discovered by a low rent criminal named Hermann Vassal, who realized I looked like your identical twin. Thinking to exploit the resemblance and your reputation, he hired a prostitute, and pretending to be a married couple, he adopted me. The similarity in our given names was ideal, and after a few months he had my last name changed to Degurechaff. I quickly realized he was a scoundrel, but I was not opposed to his scheme, having stolen money and eating being better than starving to death."

"Then one day, doing housework, two things happened. The first was that a dangerous criminal Hermann had stolen from years before caught up with him and killed him, right on our doorstep. And the second was, in utter panic that I was now abandoned by the only person I knew, afraid that I too might be killed, or be arrested for vagrancy, I was sobbing over his body and praying to God when I was suddenly filled with heat in my chest and I knew I had been given God's blessing."

At this, Tanya curled her lip.

"Filled with faith, I sought out some women religious and joined them, hoping to become a sister, if not a nun. And there I stayed, with an oath of poverty, chastity and obedience, and ministering to the sick and later the war wounded, after being taught how, and learning I had a great aptitude in healing magic."

"Every now and then I heard of your exploits, and of how much the soldiers I tended to adored The Ardent. Then while tending to some of the Imperial soldiers who had been wounded in Dacia, I caught a brief glimpse of you as you went by. And every now and then I still get other blessings unpredictably, and the last time, while heading into Berun to seek you out, I found that card in my pocket, so thought it was addressed to you from God."

"Yet the reason I sought you out was that I believe our appearances are not a coincidence, but that our mother gave birth to identical twins, and that we are sisters."

Tanya had been taking this all in, and on the spur of the moment decided to respond with an extended statement in Japanese. Before she finished, Tasya looked at her with a puzzled expression on her face, then apologized by saying she did not know the language that Tanya was using. Do you know any other languages?, asked Tanya. Only some Dacian I learned from the soldiers, she replied.

Tanya then decided to tell Tasya the sanitized version of her public life from her time in the orphanage in the north of the Empire. She then asked the obvious question, why had the two been put in different orphanages? No easy answer to that, but Tanya had some speculation, based on some idle reading she had once done back on Earth.

Both in early 20th Century Germany on Earth, and the Empire today, there had been a deep fascination with genetic theory as an early form of eugenics. That is, observing twins separated at birth and raised in different circumstances, to see what parts of their lives they shared in common, and what parts were unique to them and not their twin. Genetics was extremely complicated, so what little they knew was based on farmers intuition of the selective breeding of animals, so they were reliant on observation.

But there had been experiments, both in the Empire and the Unified States, mostly by idealistic religious cults in isolated communes, in the selective breeding of people, based on the experienced guesswork of the cult leader, using his knowledge of animal cross breeding. And at least one of these, in which adults were directed to make and raise children with adults other than their spouses, had resulted in superior children who later went on to become national leaders in many fields, after a mere four generations, which was how long the cult lasted until it broke up. Fortunate for them, as even by then their inbreeding had become dangerous.

In any event, Tanya suspected the hand of such blundering pseudo-science might be behind the origins of her and Tasya, who she was feeling more and more like she might actually be her sister. But then Tanya caught herself, and asked why she had suddenly stopped being so suspicious of this strange girl, and her normal feelings of mild paranoia and cynicism were lacking. So she asked Tasya a very important question: "How does your healing power manifest itself?" Admittedly, a blunt change in subject from what they had been talking about.

Tasya then apologized a little. "I am sorry. When I worked in a hospital with the war wounded, I gave off a strong aura of peace, relaxation, and psychological healing, which acted as a powerful adjuvant to the magical and physical healing being given to them. With use and subsequent blessings, it became so strong that I could consciously fill the entire building with it, so now I have to will it, to reduce its effects. If I become too focused in what I am doing it expands again. Fortunately, it uses very little mana, so doesn't exhaust me like doing magical healing on profound injuries on several different patients.

Becoming aware of this, Tanya was able to reignite a little of her suspicious paranoia, which made her more comfortable. So then she returned to the subject by saying, "I know an 'eccentric' scientist", using a euphemism to avoid scaring Tasya off, "who might have some connections in the scientific community to find out if we might have been part of one such experiment. His name is Adelheid von Schugel."

"Doctor Schugel!", said Tasya, "I know him well and he's one of my favorite people. I think of him like an uncle or close family."

"Eh?", said Tanya. Tasya continued, "I was hoping to visit him today as well. He should be back at his lab after morning mass, and we could both stop in and greet him." While not particularly enthusiastic about meeting the maniac Schugel on a voluntary basis, Tanya agreed that this was a special case, and would be seen as a business meeting, so it would be no problem to borrow the duty driver to take them there.

"Uncle Adelheid!", Tasya shouted enthusiastically, while skipping over to give Schugel a hug. "Tasya!", Schugel replied, "How is my favorite little girl?", he said, ignoring Tanya completely, and was acting like a sane, normal, doting grandfather. Then after some small talk, he reached over to his desk and picked up a strange looking, diamond shaped computational jewel. Initially green, when she put it on it began to change color, finally looking like an over bright gold light, bathing everything around her, in front and behind, in gold light, before settling down to a uniform gold color.

As had happened to Tanya when she first got her cursed computational jewel working, Tasya started to spontaneously recite a prayer, but in her case, it was heartfelt and one that reflected her genuine faith in God. Again, the gold light appeared, and while much more diffuse, it filled the entire aircraft hangar, even the places hidden in the shadows, before becoming invisible.

When things had again settled down, Tanya approached the pair, and when Dr. Schugel saw her, his features hardened, and he said, "What can I do for you, Major Degurechaff?", in his usual serious and stern voice.

"Doctor Schugel," said Tanya, putting extra emphasis on the word doctor, "we are here to ask you for some scientific advice." Schugel looked puzzled. "You and who else?", he asked, looking about. "Tasya and I", she replied. He looked even more puzzled. "Do you two know each other?"

Tasya then spoke, to ask Schugel if he thought she and Tanya looked like identical twins. "No, of course not", he replied, "you don't look anything like each other." And then he paused, looked confused again, and stared at the two of them together, his brain trying to resolve how the two girls before him looked like twins, when just before he thought they were completely different.

"Extraordinary!", he said, "You do look like sisters."

Tanya then explained the situation to him, and asked him to discover any experiments of separating identical twins at birth. He agreed to do so, with Tanya noting he made his promise to Tasya, not to her, a wide smile on his face. The two girls then left to get some dinner.

"Imagine that", he later said to himself. "Truly the hand of God at work, that at the same time, the Angel of the Danube and the Devil of the Rhine both met at my laboratory."

To his credit, Schugel was a determined, even dogged researcher when motivated, and he poured through the numerous studies and reports that had been published, until he finally found a passing mention of a private study. Cross referencing it, he was able to ascertain that it had been carried out by the physician of a noble family.

The eldest son and heir to the family fortune and his wife were very gifted with magic, and showed prospects in many ways. But during her pregnancy she went into early labor while her husband was away, delivered twin girls and died. Likewise, in his haste to return to her side, he was thrown from his horse and broke his neck. The second son of the family was of low character, and pondered whether to drown the two baby girls like unwanted puppies, instead deciding to give them up for adoption. It was the physician who took them to different orphanage, for his own curiosity. It did the second son no good, as within a year he as well had entered the larger life as a consequence of his bad choices.

Yet while all of this was persuasive, Schugel remained skeptical until he saw the wedding portrait of the eldest son and his wife. The two girls resemblance to their mother was unquestionable.

Though he was not known for his common sense, Schugel realized that the most the girls could get from this situation is their knowledge of each other, and a picture of their parents wedding portrait. Seeking to recover their estates and nobility would be futile, as the age of kings had passed, and the pursuit would cost them far more than they could hope to gain. In turn, both of them were the best in the world at what they did, be it war or healing, so it would just be a distraction.

Would they even want a sororal relationship? Could an angel and a devil coexist? He admitted to himself that he had no idea, but as long as he could trod the narrow middle ground between the two, the spiritual Tasya, and the "wolf of the steppes" Tanya, he felt he could learn much along the way, and maybe achieve the immortality promised by God.

From the girls point of view, each of them realized that they were the product of war, and that the risks to their lives, and the uncertainty were such that it would be unwise for their relationship to become publicly known, so it was best that apart from the uncommon meeting, they should limit it to just personal correspondence. However, if a just and lasting peace were to come about, it was good to have some family in the world.

Though Dacia had been mostly secured, there was concern that some foreign powers might create mischief along its eastern sea coast. Until a permanent unit could be established there, Tanya was asked to have her unit screen the coast for five days. As their headquarters, she and her unit would be staying at the Castle Corvinilor, a very beautiful castle fortification, high on top of a mountain, often above the cloud cover. A great place for mages to avoid ground detection when entering or leaving.

Their host for this was Leticia Tepes, a very wealthy countess who lived there. When they were to be formally introduced one evening, Tanya, Lt. Weiss and Visha were surprised to find that the countess, the owner of this magnificent castle, was a little girl, even younger than Tanya. Tanya's anime trope alarm went off in her head.

Fortunately, Lady Tepes broke the ice by asking Tanya's age. When told her age, she expressed interest in how Tanya became so highly decorated in such a short period of time, and said if Tanya didn't mind she would love to hear all about it. Tanya waited for the other shoe to drop.

"Me? I'm ten. Most of the time I'm getting tutored, and learning all the things I must do when I grow up." Tanya couldn't help but snicker silently, but this was noticed by the countess, who asked what was funny.

Tanya apologized, and explained that she had read many fiction stories where a young female noblewoman had actually been a powerful and dangerous being hundreds of years old, and that for some reason many of them used her family name as well. "Oh, like a vampire, you mean?" said the countess. Tanya was a bit surprised, but said yes.

"Oh, nothing so exciting. My family controlled the final leg of the northern Silk Road shipping over the Black Sea to and from the capital of what is now the Turkman Principalities, and spent much of their fortune in building this castle, which at the time was impregnable to Turkman forces, and impassable by coastal ships without our permission."

"Oh, I see. My apologies", said Tanya. "Think nothing of it," said the countess. "My family and our castle have been surrounded by such stories for a very long time. That's why the people in the region avoid the castle. Superstition." And then she said the unexpected. "We do have a vampire in our dungeon, however. He is not in very good shape, but if you'd like to see a real one, I'll ask one of my servants to show him to you in his cell."

Tanya and her lieutenants looked at each other in puzzlement. The next few days were kept busy directing the screening mission. The only event of moment was when an unidentified submarine showed up and was chased off by Imperial surface ships. After dinner, Tanya would retire to talk to countess Leticia in her study. Hypnotized by Tanya's tales of the war, she often expressed awe at the goings on in the rest of the world. But then the subject returned to the vampire in the dungeon.

"He was a prince and a knight that fought against the Turkmen in a bloody war, but something happened that made him curse God, and demand some means of defeating his enemies. So God made him a vampire."

Trying very hard to contain herself, Tanya was just livid at Being X, that this was just the sort of cruel mischief he would do. But at the same time she was sold on the idea of seeing this monster face to face, to see the fate of another victim of Being X. Countess Leticia explained that the servant would carry a large fire torch, as it would arouse the vampire, illuminate it, and if it attacked it would fend it off, though the bars on its cell were good enough. She doubted if ordinary bullets could kill it, but if they were imbued with the magic mages use, they might do so. Thus it would be better if their sidearms had such enhanced bullets.

The descent into the dungeon by the three officers and the servant was a lot further than expected. It was quite large, and as many could be forced into the same cell, it could hold hundreds or more. On the lower level there were fewer cells, and at last, a level with just one cell. The door to it was massive and covered with religious inscriptions and incantations. It took both the muscular servant and Lt. Weiss to shoulder it open. Once inside, the odor was incredibly foul, and Visha gagged. Tanya was focused on the dark cell, in the corner of which was the figure of a man. His clothes rotting off his body, he was mostly naked, and blind, with dark sockets where his eyes should have been.

Sensing the torch, he rose surprisingly smoothly and stood there for a second before lurching forward at the bars. Visha screamed and Lieutenant Weiss was so startled he fell backwards. Only Tanya stood her ground without wavering as the hideous man struggled at the bars, trying to reach through and grab them, while giving off bestial grunts and snarls. After watching this display for several seconds, Tanya very calmly asked him a question. "Do you want to die?"

His grunts and snarls stopped, he relaxed, and then gave off one long sad whine, much like a dog in agonizing pain. After a pause, Tanya pulled her sidearm and started to recite a very long prayer. The amount of magic being poured into her gun was more than either Lieutenant Weiss or Visha had ever seen. Typically it would result in a gigantic and devastating explosion which they both assumed would level the entire castle. But before they could react, Tanya fired, and to their great surprise it was like an ordinary gunshot. The bullet hit the vampire in the chest, and it just crumpled, inert. By all appearances, dead.

Tanya then spoke to the lieutenants and the servant, and said, let's go. After walking up a very long flight of stairs and brushing off the dust and cobwebs, Tanya went to see the countess, and told her simply that she had killed the vampire. Countess Leticia said "thank you", and wished Tanya and her unit the best on their return to the Empire.

The following evening, Countess Leticia descended the dungeon stairs, wearing oddly anachronistic but high quality clothing. She opened the great door to the last cell with a nudge from one hand, then gazed at the quickly decaying body on the floor of the cell. "Well, you imprisoned me here and I imprisoned you there. Now we are both free, and I, for one, intend to see the world."

As almost an afterthought, she said "Ironic. Imprisoned by the servant of God, and now freed by the Devil."

The Imperial General Staff was much like a fine tuned automobile engine. It was a place of exacting intellectualism, endless study of military history and theory, military law, technology and industry, economics, planning and so very much more.

General Rudersdorf remembered his own exacting training, how on Kris Kringle Nacht, after having worked around the clock for days to complete a detailed, multi-volume invasion plan assignment for the legendary chief of staff General Moktle the elder, solely as an intellectual exercise, he hoped that when accepted he could spend the holiday with his family. But he was rewarded by General Moktle with an even harder assignment, to be completed on an even shorter timetable.

It was then that he resolved that he would try to never push the General Staff engine so hard that it would burn out. That as individuals, even in trying times, they would be given some opportunity to be with their families, and that as a group, that they would be able to relax in an informal atmosphere, and speak to each other freely, within reason, at irregular intervals.

For this reason, he had selected a particular beer hall in Berun called "Der blaue Engel", that was built by a friend of his on his retirement from the army. He had even suggested to his friend that it include a large meeting room just for that purpose, away from the crowd and those that would listen to them talk, staffed solely with waiters who were former senior NCOs. Always a pragmatist, he also insured that agents from army counterintelligence frequented the public areas of the beer hall in case spies tried to gather information there, or other military personnel talked too freely after drinking too much.

After Tanya had attended one of these beer hall parties, but just sitting in the back sipping coffee while the men drank and talked, first about business and then on general subjects, she got an interesting idea.

What would liven this up is if there were a few musicians to play for a while. Or at least an upright piano, and maybe a singer. She had notions of karaoke, but quickly dismissed them, the idea of gravel voiced senior officers belting out popular music as unpleasant. While talking with one of the staff, a wounded vet named Corporal Schultze, he mentioned that he played piano, and hoped to become a composer some day and had written several short songs based on poems he had read.

Tanya, mostly thinking that he could serve as the piano player, asked him to play and sing some of his songs before the beer hall had opened for the day. He did several that were fairly ordinary, before he brought out one that Tanya actually recognized, to her surprise. In her old world, it cropped up every now and then in historical movies, and was still remembered after a century. It was called "Lili Marleen".

Tanya decided to make that song the centerpiece of her idea. Its lyrics were fairly ordinary, so she worked with Corporal Schultze to make them high powered. Dripping with sentimentality, tragedy, loving memories, and painful loneliness and longing for love and home, it was the thoughts of a soldier at the front, drenched in cold, mud and blood, fearful of living to the next day, and the thoughts of the woman who loved him, and pined for him in the cold night, illuminated only by a streetlight on a dark and empty street where they used to meet. Tanya thought of adding a verse or two of children missing their absent father, but decided that would be too much. But both she and the corporal thought it would be a hit with the General Staff.

The evening would begin with a trio of lower floor waitresses accompanied by the Corporal on piano, singing some older popular songs known to the General Staff officers, to give the evening a light and festive mood, along with some snack foods, beer and liquor. Then after relaxing, talking and drinking for a few hours, just before the scheduled ending of the event, Tanya, after much practice, would sing Lili Marleen. As such, the simple plan became a bit more complicated, but in a good way, when two of the other staff asked if they could join in, one with a muted trumpet and the other playing accordian, and all three of the men doing backup vocals. More practice.

On the given night, General Rudersdorf and the rest of the General Staff were truly looking forward to the party, as it had been grueling weeks of stress and hard work. He was pleased that Tanya had organized and volunteered some light entertainment for them all, even though she was soon to ship out to yet another war engagement, so it would be a while before they spoke again. He felt a deep, burning anguish whenever she had to leave, and fear that her next fight would be her last.

When the trio of waitresses sang, they were such a hit that there were several recommendations to the beer hall management right after that they should become a permanent act for the lower floor, which they did and became a big customer draw on performance nights. It worked as it should have for the upper floor and soon the beer, wine and liquor flowed freely. It was also inspirational, as several officers had good ideas for ongoing and future operations. There were also some heartfelt arguments about past events and tactics, which never seem to be resolved.

Feeling relaxed, but still a bit guilty, General Rudersdorf invited Tanya to sit next to him and asked the waiter to bring out a bottle of fine wine, with intent that for all her hard work, and heading off into battle again so soon, it would be a shame if she wouldn't have a glass of it as a reward. Knowing it would be almost insulting to refuse, Tanya agreed. The waiter produced a large glass, with a knowing glance at the General, who smiled back, and she knew that she had been set up a little. And the wine was indeed delicious. Though intending to sip it, soon she had downed the glass and she knew that she was pleasantly drunk. Feeling warm and giddy, she came to her senses realizing that it was about time for the closing act to begin. So giving her apologies to the table, she went over to the piano, where the NCOs were getting ready.

The noisy, crowded, smoke filled room became quiet as the instrumental introduction of the song began with the trumpet, accordion and piano. Then Tanya began singing, keeping her eyes closed to better remember the lyrics, tempo, and emotional context behind them. She thought the only problem during her performance was when, during a particularly emotional verse, he voice cracked slightly. Then, with the final verse the song ended. The room was totally silent.

Oh, heck, thought Tanya. Was I that bad? It took her eyes to adjust under the bright lights but in a dark room. And then she saw the faces of the audience. Senior Colonels and Generals, tears flowing down their cheeks, some quietly sobbing into handkerchiefs. Even General Rudersdorf looked devastated.

Tanya almost panicked. Can I be shot for humiliating general officers in public?

But then, someone applauded. A half second later the room exploded in applause. They were calling out Brava!, banging on their tables, cheering. Downstairs, people in the hall were wondering what the heck just happened. Within a few weeks, "Der blaue Engel" went from a beer hall to one of the top performance nightclubs in Berun, with 'A'-list acts, so ironically the General Staff had to relocate to a quieter venue.

Royalties for a studio recording of "Lili Marleen" made Corporal Schultze more than enough money to begin a long and illustrious career as a composer, both for stand alone works and later, movie soundtracks.

Tanya resolved to not drink wine again until she was older.