Editing City Series:Volume6b Chapter5 (section)

===Part 4===

A strategy meeting had begun in the Black Forest.

Two large plastic tents had been set up in a hollow. No light could escape them and the voices did not fare much better. Since they were in a hollow, they would have to be seen from directly above to notice.

The two tents sat there like two boulders.

The starlight shined on several smaller figures around them.

They were a mixture of human and Heidengeist. Around a dozen men and a handful of women were either standing or sitting there. There were also some guards positioned further out.

Hazel sat between the two tents with a green blanket over her shoulders.

Corelle sat next to her with an identical blanket.

She had told Hazel a lot as they whispered to each other.

“Hmm. So you are about to attack a base at the Alfheim Meteorite Pit to destroy an aerial warship under construction there? And not only is it a High Organ ship, but it’s equipped with a Babel Cannon.”

Hazel was still not used to the English term High Organ instead of the German term Eingeweide.

“It’s just one of the ships meant to make up the Gard-class. The High Organ system will be used to link 8 ships together, creating a high-altitude fortress. They hope to accomplish what wasn’t technologically possible for the Bladlikburg.”

“And it carries a Babel Cannon too?”

“Yes. One large enough to make intercontinental attacks if hooked up to a sufficient power source. And since they’ll be using the Phlogiston extracted and accelerated by the Vaterlands, they’ll be able to reload whenever they want while it remains in Germany. If they get that thing up and running, the slow British and French aerial ships will be sitting ducks. But if we can destroy it now, it’ll take them a full year before they can build another. Also,” continued Corelle. “We were given an additional and quite unusual mission this time. Most of us are tasked with sinking the Gard-class, but a few of us were given a different mission. This mission came from P. Wagner – the very same P. Wagner who had a lab in the center of the Alfheim Meteorite Pit and designed the Kaiserburg.”

“Eh?”

Corelle answered Hazel’s confusion by tilting her head and continuing her explanation.

“A British recon team noticed the Geheimnis Agency had started digging up the Alfheim Meteorite Pit two years ago. I don’t know how word of it reached him, but P. Wagner apparently paid M. Schrier a visit with a single demand.” She sighed. “ ‘You must take back what the Geheimnis Agency digs up.’ ”

“T-take back?”

“Yes. So now that the excavation is nearing completion, our local cooperators have been clamoring for us to make our move.” She looked to the tent on her left. “And after P. Wagner provided detailed information to M. Schrier, he decided to make it top secret even within the AIF. Not even Berger knows. A small team was put together separate from this one and they’ve all been sent in to infiltrate the dig site already. Our attack will be their cue to make their move.”

That explained why Corelle was keeping her voice so low.

Hazel kept her head low for no real reason.

“This is top secret?”

“I think the only ones here who know are Pale and me. I transported the other team here on M. Schrier’s orders, but not even I was given any details on their mission. And the team itself wasn’t told what exactly is being excavated.”

Hazel frowned.

“Why is it such a big secret?”

“They don’t want anyone outside the AIF finding out. We’re an international force of sorts, so anything known to all our members will reach every country around the world. But this mission was presented to M. Schrier by P. Wagner. The secrecy suggests it isn’t even an AIF mission. It’s more of a personal matter.”

“…”

“There’s something real bad buried there. You know how the Kaiserburg nearly destroyed the global balance of power? It was made in that lab and something there has caught the Geheimnis Agency’s interest. Then M. Schrier received the details from P. Wagner and concluded the world can’t learn what’s being excavated there. Not until the moment it’s been dug up.”

Hazel thought about that and soon voiced those thoughts.

“Is the Geheimnis Agency searching for clues to build another ship like the Sylphide from two years ago?”

“Reports from our agents at the dig site say the local Geheimnis Agency staff don’t even know what it is. They’re just following orders.”

Hazel observed Corelle’s face as she said that. Then she sighed and voiced the idea that had just occurred to her.

“Then what about this attack on the Gard-class warship?”

“Yes, it might be no more than a diversion for the secret mission. For the moment, M. Schrier understands whatever-it-is’s value even more than the Geheimnis Agency does since he has P. Wagner’s opinion go to off of. If the Geheimnis Agency prioritizes defense of the Gard-class, the secret mission will probably succeed.”

Corelle laughed bitterly and Hazel took a step forward on her knees and asked a question.

“Um, shouldn’t you be participating in the meeting inside the tent?”

“The transport unit’s part is already over. I already demonstrated my power as a Highlandest using my 47 Telling Cards, so the rest of my job is to wait until it’s time to head home. …I’ll introduce you to ‘Hardest Wolf’ Pale Horse later. He’ll dance a jig when he learns you’re Oscar’s daughter.”

“Dance a jig? Is he a funny person?”

“Pale led a unit of England’s special forces during the Great War and made it all the way to the headquarters of the Geheimnis Agency – known as the Germania Dragoons back then – located at the center of Naylor family territory. His forces were almost entirely wiped out, but the fortress was utterly destroyed. 70% of the dragoons were defeated and he fought to a draw with ‘Kommandeur’ Heiliger Karlsruhe.”

“Heiliger Karlsruhe?”

…''That was the name of my dad’s former superior. And…

She hesitated before opening her mouth.

“…”

And she shut it again.

Seeing that, Corelle gave an exasperated shrug.

“I call it a draw, but Pale only had his right eye taken out while he used his Third Lunar Emperor prosthetic arms to blow off both Heiliger’s arms. …The man loves to fight, so recently he’s left England to fight in the Ethiopian conflict and the Spanish Civil War. And he always joins the losing side.”

“That’s who leads the AIF?”

“M. Schrier thought long and hard on whether to give that position to him or to your old man.”

That made her gasp.

…''I had no idea.

There was so much she was unaware of.

“Having former Major General Oscar with us would mean a lot when fighting Germany. He has a lot of supporters in the military here, so it would send ripples through the country. But the AIF hopes to be an international organization, so the command position was given to Pale who has fought all across Europe.”

“I see,” said Hazel with a tilt of the head. She gave Corelle a look of renewed admiration and sighed with a hint of disappointment in herself. “The AIF sounds amazing. And it looks like they even accept women.”

“Some Strikers are women, right? This is the same. In the US, some states are letting female civilian pilots assist their aerial units, so this will be the standard eventually.”

“But…you’re a captain. That’s incredible.”

“US military regulations require that if you’re going to lead a flight team. …Although the rank is mostly thanks to my Urban Name of Highlandest, which I earned from my use of Telling Cards.”

Corelle was being modest, but she was also smiling in a bashful way. She smiled until her eyes disappeared.

Hazel stared at that smile until it suddenly ended.

“Is something wrong?”

“No,” said Hazel.

Corelle placed a hand on her head and used her thick hand to muss up the girl’s hair.

“Don’t lie to me, Hazel Mirildorf. Berger hasn’t convinced you to hide your feelings like he does, has he? A woman’s gotta let her true self shine through.”

“No, um, uh, I was just a little jealous is all.”

“Of what?”

“I still don’t know what I should do or what I should be. And then I look to you or Mr. Berger and you already have Urban Names and everything.”

“Everyone gets one of those once they do something of note.”

“But people call me the Messiah when I haven’t done anything. And the implant still isn’t working.”

Corelle’s hand stopped on Hazel’s head. Hazel lowered the ends of her eyebrows and looked Corelle in the eyes.

“Mr. Berger said I should stay away from all this. He said there was something I have to figure out before I can get involved.”

“…”

“What don’t I have? And why…why is it so wrong?” She took a breath. “Why is it so wrong that I don’t want to run away and that I want to do something?”

A change came over Corelle’s face.

For a brief moment, her jaw dropped like she had noticed something strange, but then she lowered her head and placed thoughtful hand on her jaw.

Hazel watched in confusion as Corelle shut her eyes and spoke.

“Here’s the thing, Hazel. Berger has Gelegenheit and I have my Telling Cards. And maybe you didn’t want it, but you have the Messiah implant and it’s broken right now, right?”

Hazel nodded.

“M. Schrier told me not to tell anyone until the time came, but take a look at this.”

Corelle pulled a letter from her pocket. It was old and discolored.

“M. Schrier gave me this Lost Memory. He says these letters from the past started arriving for him and those around him about two years ago…and some even before that. This year in particular, several of them have crossed the ocean to reach him.”

She held the letter up in front of Hazel, but her fingers were gripping it tight. She was only letting Hazel see it, not handing it to her.

“When he gave me this mission, he told me I was sure to meet a girl once I arrived.”

“Eh?”

“And he told me to give that girl this letter and have her deliver it if she said a certain phrase at a certain time.”

“What phrase and what time? Deliver it to who?”

“I can’t tell you that yet.” Corelle shoved the Lost Memory back in her pocket. “But Hazel. Hazel Mirildorf. Listen carefully. This is like a test. A while after this mission begins, my transport unit will pick up Pale and then fly out across the Mediterranean. Carrying you. But…”

“But?”

“If you figure something out before then and I kick you out – just like M. Schrier hopes – you will probably find yourself on the battlefield.”

Laughter erupted from the tent on their right and Corelle glanced over there.

“Prepare yourself, Hazel. Unfortunately, there is a lot I don’t know about this mission. Destiny here is filled with too many uncertainties for my cards to read. …That includes the Lost Memory, the Geheimnis Agency excavation, P. Wagner’s actions, the mystery object being excavated, and the tense international situation,” she said. “You are much the same, Hazel Mirildorf. Everyone is searching for an answer. Unfortunately, that answer might just be war and ruin.”