The cipher officer nodded, his expression crestfallen.
“The issue is that truly one-time codes are pointless unless a one-time pad has been distributed in advance. A strange shift in activity surfaced in eastern army communications immediately after the code was used for the first time.”
“Let me guess… Their response to the Federation’s attack suddenly improved? Is that what you are telling me?”
Unaware of what Habergram feared, the officer nodded, adding further fuel to the suspicions now budding in Habergram’s chest.
“Yes, sir. We noted a striking change in the tone of orders being issued—from ‘implement previously prescribed defensive plans’ to ‘withdraw immediately.’ We also picked up an additional transmission from the General Staff instructing units to follow previously distributed sealed orders.”
“Yes, I heard mention of that report. Sealed orders, correct? What was it called again, ‘Defensive Plan Number Four’? Have the officers on Magick determined any of the details yet?”
“No hint of it has shown up in Magick.”
“None at all?”
“None,” said the cipher officer, nodding. “Nothing in intelligence reports either. No such information has surfaced from any of the Imperial Army intelligence sources we have been able to secure.”
In other words, thought Habergram, arranging his thoughts, as soon as Rising Dawn commenced, a unit in the Imperial Army issued orders through a previously prepared code, suddenly instructing forces to carry out a written plan that had been distributed in advance by means such as officer transport rather than through communication networks.
Which meant…that this plan had been kept entirely concealed the whole time?
“It’s possible that only general officers knew of the plan. Considering how minor the confusion was despite General Laudon’s death, perhaps multiple people in their command were familiar with it. How many times do the words ‘Defensive Plan Number Four’ come up on Magick?”
“Even after Rising Dawn began, the phrase ‘Defensive Plan No. 4’ has only shown up a handful of times from Eastern Army Command and Imperial General Staff alike. It does not appear very frequently.”
“In other words, it was intentionally omitted…? Or perhaps there was no need to be explicit on the subject?”
“We don’t know,” said the officer—the answer of a specialist who can recognize when he does not understand the situation.
“Thank you.” Habergram nodded, seeing the cipher officer off before retrieving the bottle of whiskey stashed at the bottom of his desk. Although he knew it was uncouth, he placed the bottle directly to his lips and took a swig.
Right now, it was either drink or lose his mind. Without liquid courage, he was going to scream.
An immediate, mysterious transmission in response to Rising Dawn. And in reaction to that, the dredging up of a carefully prepared and even more mysterious plan. Assuming that this plan was the counter to Rising Dawn…?
Impossible! It couldn’t be! There was no way! Words of denial floated across his brain and then dispersed, the alcohol already taking effect.
“I already knew that Zettour is a monster. The question is whether he is the kind of monster who anticipated the Federation Army’s strategic offensive, or the kind of genius who was able to respond to it on the spot.”
FEBRUARY 7, UNIFIED YEAR 1928, THE EAST
“Oh, Colonel. I’m glad to see you are well.”
“General?”
I stiffen up in the presence of the general, who has suddenly invaded the command center. I resist the urge to suggest he might have given me a warning.
But while I am still groping for something to say, taken by surprise as I am, General Zettour, as unwilling as ever to forgo the initiative, releases a blitzkrieg of his own. As is the imperial way.
“I stand with His Majesty the Emperor.”
“His Majesty the Emperor…? Oh, that’s right. I had forgotten that we are an empire.”
I had heard in advance that the emperor himself would be coming in Her Highness Alexandra’s place to congratulate us on victory. I had also heard that the general would be attending him. However, I was still completely caught off guard.
As comments go, mine was not a bad attempt at smoothing over the situation. Unfortunately, the general is a step ahead in this regard. He grins as he catches the meaning of my words—General Zettour is a proper staff officer, descended from true strategists.
“Shame. Shame, Colonel.”
He spots a weakness, delivers a focused attack, and exploits the gains.
“You haven’t lost your sense of reverence and loyalty to the imperial household, have you? Despite now wearing a von upon your name?”
The ability to display assertiveness, or rather unshakable aggression, even in the face of unexpected encounters, is the purview of officers. General Zettour stands as tall and straight as if someone had inserted a ruler into his back, his arms crossed. His question, which he asks indignantly with a stern face, is almost beautiful in its form.
“You were bestowed your honorable knighthood, your position as one of the twelve knights of the war college, by the imperial household, were you not? I should hope you would not forget His Majesty, after being conferred such duty and honor.”
The words are a sharp and fierce opening salvo, piercing like an auger, but Tanya is a storied veteran who has now survived a penetrating, full-depth campaign. If necessary, I will not hesitate to entrench on the final defensive line and immediately erect counterfire.
“Some leeway, if you would. I have lost my palace courtesies out here on the battlefield.”
A bold, noble response for a field officer, and extremely effective against any high-level officer of sense. The general breaks into a huge smile, seemingly quite satisfied.
“Excellent, Lieutenant Colonel…that is just the thing,” he says with a grin, not bothering to hide his delight. “Throughout the Reich’s history, it is the imperial household that has always been the center—a focal point, at least, to bring together the bureaucracy, government, and the army. However…”
After a pregnant pause, General Zettour continues.
“Is that true of today’s imperial household?”
“Indeed,” I sneer. “They do not seem to evince much of a presence.”
“Why, Colonel, how brazen of you,” says General Zettour, though his smirking tone belies his reprimand. “To imply that the imperial household—the great symbol of the Reich—lacks presence. Surely that cannot be, Lieutenant Colonel!”
This is all just a bit. The truth is that nothing has been said to merit a true reprimand.
“We swore loyalty to His Majesty the Supreme Commander. Naturally, we are soldiers of His Majesty.”
This is true as well. The Imperial Army’s officers are His Majesty the Emperor’s officers. At the end of the day, the Imperial Army General Staff Office is ultimately nothing more than a counseling body to His Majesty—at least according to the constitution and the law.
I suddenly gulp.
“Do you mean to say…His Majesty the Emperor’s will interposes in every part of this war?”
Tanya has never had an opportunity to attend the emperor directly. As a result, I have no idea what sort of military leadership he might have attempted to undertake. Although, on second thought, even I, someone who has few ears of my own within the inner chambers of the General Staff, had only the vaguest conception of the “emperor” as any sort of military presence.
As I recalled, when General Zettour was recalled to central, it was done under the authority of the emperor, in name at least. But had the imperial household even been the faintest bit aware that General Zettour’s return had been related to the invasion of Ildoa? Had they actually had the choice to appoint anyone other than Zettour? Indeed, has the army not long since become self-sufficient? It had seemed that way, even during the late General Rudersdorf’s time… I voice the question forming in my mind.
“General, do you feel a sense of veneration for the imperial family?”
General Zettour nodded in grandiose fashion.
“Need one ask? As a soldier of the Reich, General Zettour is a true and faithful monarchist beyond compare,” he answered.
As expected, Zettour’s words carry many hidden implications. I grow absorbed in thought. As General Zettour of the Reich, perhaps he is fidelity itself, but did that faithfulness extend to Hans Zettour, the individual of the Heimat? As a soldier of the state, he was faithful…but what about as an individual, with his own thoughts and feelings about his homeland?
“Is that what you mean? Is that how I should interpret your intentions?”
It is a convoluted question. But beneath the surface of his answer, the general’s temperament is terribly simple and clear.
“I meant it quite literally, of course, Colonel. How else could it be interpreted? I am Hans von Zettour, honorable general of the Imperial Army.”
It is a firm answer.
At first glance, it might sound like the answer of a good old-fashioned imperial soldier, proud of his loyalty to the emperor. If an average, rustic soldier were to say such a thing, I would not doubt for a second that there was any ulterior meaning. However, there is more to both Tanya and Zettour than what can be seen on the surface, and I know, whether I wish to or not, that in this case it is the unsaid part that represents Zettour’s true intentions.