Julie's Point of View
"Therefore, I declare that there exists a STATE OF WAR between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Russian Federation!"
What a way to come home, Julie mused. Her best friend was on the airport television, looking fabulous, oh, and declaring war!
The China trip succeeded beyond her wildest expectations, at least. They were manufacturing the weight-loss pills in bulk and selling them worldwide, bringing in record profits. She even managed to get some shopping in, though Chinese brands were really not made with busty girlies in mind. At least she was skinny now, thanks Reka!
Hey daddy...
Galiban was waiting to pick her up, looking absolutely delicious. "My lady," he bowed to her.
The things she would do to this man...well, the things she would do if he wasn't a robot. Was it even anatomically possible? If Galiban could make a body couldn't he make an "attachment"?
No! Bad Julie! There were more important things going on right now, like her friend, who was somehow the queen of a whole country, single-handedly fighting Russia.
"Security seems pretty tight," she remarked, trying to sound nonchalant. Men in camouflage uniforms with rifles slung across their backs were everywhere, accompanied by terminators that looked a whole lot like Galiban before his bachelor party makeover.
"And we're being pretty open about the robots, I guess," she added, watching the creepy way one crossed her path, smooth and mechanical, but also vaguely unnatural-looking. "Are these self-aware too, Galiban?"
"Not as such, my lady," the butler said smoothly, guiding her to a waiting car, a YBD.
"Oh, I rode in one of these in China!" she said excitedly. The interior looked like the cockpit of a spaceship, shiny and glowing with gadgets. "And they can drive themselves! But back on topic, what's the story with the robots?"
Galiban started the car and they both hoped in, heading for Buda Castle, the new home base for Reka's bizarre adventure.
"The Vanguard's programming is limited to infantry tasks: patrolling, react to contact, squad attack, platoon attack, close quarters battle, and so on," he explained. "They can follow basic directions but can't act outside these narrow parameters. In short, my lady, they exist only for war."
Only for war...
"How's Reka?" Julie asked. "I saw the attack, feared the worst..."
"Her grace is well, though his majesty the King sustained moderate injuries."
Julie breathed in sharply. "She can't be taking that well."
Galiban looked at her pointedly. Julie got the sense he didn't need to see the road with his eyes. "Indeed not, my lady. It is ultimately for his sake that battle is joined. Her grace is determined to repay the assault on her husband with fire and sword."
This was awful. Julie had seen footage of what Russia did to Ukraine: the bombed cities, the dead people, the terrified refugees fleeing west. Would that happen here?
"I know this is Reka we're talking about," Julie said carefully, eyeing something that looked like a sci-fi tank with a short barrel pointed upward as they drove past. "But Russia has nukes. What can we possibly do?"
Galiban smiled at her, not the slight, polite smile of a butler serving his mistress, but a hungry, cruel smile that promised unpleasant surprises. "Have faith, my lady. Those who have vexed her grace will wish they had not before the end."
Once safely inside the Buda Castle security perimeter, Galiban led her to Reka, who was fiddling with some kind of coffin, no, a sarcophagus, in a wing of the castle that was rarely used.
It looked like an artifact from ancient Babylon or a lost civilization that engaged in human sacrifice, the walls engraved with demonic faces contorted in agony and other macabre displays. A slight hissing came from within, like there was water boiling in there, and six pillars surrounded it in a Star Of David formation, all glowing brightly.
"The task is almost finished," Reka said meaningfully, not looking up at them. Galiban nodded and Julie just stood there, quite confused. "Yes, bringing this task from Prague was a somewhat elongated process."
The butler chuckled. Was there some inside joke she was missing here? Had Julie been away too long?
Once the sound of steam stopped coming from the sarcophagus Galiban collected six crystals from atop the pillars for something, leaving them alone.
"Julie, I've missed you so much!" Reka said brightly, finally looking up and crushing her in a hug.
How is she so strong?
'What was all that about?" Julie asked.
"Our new weapons require, shall we say, esoteric components."
It couldn't be crazier than little crystals that contained fusion reactions, so Julie didn't trouble herself too much over it.
"How have you been, bestie?"
Reka's grip on her loosened a bit. "As well as might be expected, my friend," she said, sounding strangely at ease for the leader of a country at war. Locking arms, they walked back to the royal apartments together.
"BRAD!" her friend yelled, making Julie jump. "Ah, sorry, Julie," Reka apologized, looking embarrassed. "My husband is a bit hard of hearing just now."
The man was watching tv with the sound off, leaning forward like he was reading the subtitles. He didn't acknowledge them at first.
Looks good, though, Julie thought. Reka had texted her about putting Brad on a health program and it really showed. His muscles had visible definition and his shirt was a tight in a good way. If he was single...
NO! JESUS GOD NO! Julie forcefully ended that train of thought. This was a married man, her best friend's husband. She was way too down bad right now. Julie spent years fantasizing about how much dating she would do if only she could lose weight but now that she was skinny it just wasn't happening. Had being single become a habit?
"BRAD!" Reka yelled again. This time he got up and ran to greet her like the golden retriever he was.
The couple communicated in a sort of sign language/telepathy thing that made Julie feel super single.
Finally noticing her, Brad waved and she waved back.
"Would you mind helping us out?" Reka asked her. "I know asking you for something so soon after your work trip makes me a bad friend, but I miss talking to Brad."
Julie blinked. "I'd love to help, but...how?"
"Our next drug project, my friend: targeted regeneration of tissue. You can do the cosmetic stuff like skin, hair, and so on, but also internal organs. I'd take it kindly if you made eardrums a priority. Galiban will be able to help you; remember, he can be many places at once."
Julie was definitely not saying no to spending more time with Galiban. "I'd love to!" she agreed a little more enthusiastically than she intended. "What will you be up to?"
Like a switch was flipped, Reka shifted from "friend mode" to "queen mode". "I must coordinate with President Yavlinsky of Ukraine; we have a remote meeting in one hour. There are issues of airspace and the identification of friends and foes."
Right, the war. Hopefully Gratin wouldn't bomb them again.
**********
Alice's Point of View
Being a general was more about managing traffic flow problems than leading in battle, Alice concluded.
The long march from Lviv to Kherson required a ridiculous amount planning and organization, especially since Ukrainian support units were accompanying her drone horde.
Taras, ever helpful, had organized a whole system to sustain her vanguard brigades. Every battalion had a human logistics unit attached for refuel and resupply. Galiban lent a hand remotely, but he was mostly concerned with the air war.
Speaking of which, the contact tracking screen in her command post lit up.
"Here they come again," said her human adjutant, a Ukrainian man named Chernenko. He'd been selected because he could speak English, allowing her to rapidly coordinate with high command back in Kyiv.
Columns of her skeletal troops riding in repurposed civilian buses and trucks paused on the road.
The Dragonlance plasma cannon was a three part weapon system. The cannon itself was mounted on a tracked vehicle with a "special" internal power source that Reka cautioned her not to disturb. The core felt like dark magic, but Alice had no right to complain at this point. She'd made her choice.
At maximum power output, the plasma cannon had an effective range of two hundred kilometers, but you can't hit what you can't see. Each vehicle was attached to a ground-based radar, the second part, as a last resort, but the most critical third part was in the air.
Galiban had refitted multiple civilian aircraft with the most advanced radars the Chinese were willing to sell, acting as an early warning system. Several of these were in air at all times, capable of detecting targets as far away as four hundred kilometers.
There were thirty six Dragonlances in the first batch. Twelve had been held back for home defense in Hungary, probably overkill, but Reka wasn't risking Brad again and Alice knew better than to argue with her. Twenty four pieces were more than enough to cover the whole Ukrainian front line. It was a bit of a dance to keep them close enough to defend ground forces but out of range of Russian conventional artillery, but that just made it fun.
"Coming into range now," her adjutant said, monitoring the contact tracking screen. Alice left her command post to watch
Streaks of electric blue shot into the sky, with a stuttering thunderclap following a few seconds later.
"All clear, resume the march," Alice ordered once the contact tracker was clear again. The Russians still hadn't learned their lesson. Alice was happy to let them waste as many missiles as they wanted.
"We'll be in Kherson tomorrow," Chernenko informed her unnecessarily. Really, Alice could read maps too. "The Russians have destroyed the bridges across the Dnieper. What will you do?"
What indeed?
This whole attack was a feint, a "shaping operation" to make the Russians think they were trying to retake the whole of Kherson Oblast and completely cut off Crimea by land. Strategically, they absolutely couldn't let that happen. They'd throw in everything to stop Alice, which was exactly what she was counting on. Taras would have a free hand in the east.
"The Vanguards aren't human, you know," Alice said lightly. "They will wrap their weapons and ammo in plastic and walk right across the bottom of the river."
Or rather, the first brigade would. It was early autumn and hadn't rained for a while so the Dnieper's flow was at a low point. If some of the terminators got swept away by the current, it was no huge loss. The surprise and terror would be worth it.
Each Vanguard had been issued a dadao, a thick Chinese sword made for cleaving enemies. Since they were buying a lot of equipment from China anyway, Reka insisted. The command to cut Russians into tiny bits went unsaid.
The next day, Alice was happy to find that Russian electronic warfare assets were silent, likely hiding from the dragonflies and Solyoms that lurked above. With the Dragonlances for cover, the sky was theirs.
"First brigade is to disperse and begin their crossing," Alice ordered, specifying where on her command tablet. "Let's enjoy the show, Major Chernenko."
With no Russian jamming she'd be able to watch multiple live feeds in her command post.
At a dozen points, Reka's undying legions, what Taras called Necrons, fearlessly marched into the water. Russian artillery was silent, not even a drone on the contact tracker. Would they make a fight of it?
The feed cut out once the Vanguards disappeared under the water, but resumed as one after another, scattered platoons emerged on the east bank and started removing the plastic wrap on their gear.
Russian machine gun and mortar fire erupted from concealed positions. "Close with the enemy and engage," she ordered. "Each platoon is to act independently, search and destroy!"
Artillery was one of the few threats she had to worry about. Concentrated fire from heavy machine guns, mortars, and rockets could slow them down, but only artillery could really stop them. It was vital they not linger in any one place for long.
Being robots, they lacked any sense of self-preservation and directly charged the Russian positions, aiming and firing at a run with no loss in accuracy.
At first, Alice couldn't make out the Russians in the distance, only observing distant muzzle flashes, but the Vanguards' optical sensors were better than the human eye. Before long, she saw her forces advancing over dead bodies.
The Russians didn't have anything that could meaningfully resist her. If Alice had been the Russian commander she would've ordered a withdrawal before more of her troops were slaughtered, but no order came. Had Galiban hacked their communications?
Time and again, she saw her Vanguards fall upon an isolated Russian position, completely wiping it out. Many of the poor bastards didn't even know they were under attack until they were already dead.
"Mother of God..." Chernenko said in awe. "Your robots are invincible."
That wasn't true, but Alice let him keep thinking it for now. They'd be out of ammo soon and would need to cease operations to refuel in about an hour. She would have to organize a way to supply forces across the river to turn this tactical victory into a strategic one.
The ammo was actually running out a lot faster than usual; there were so many Russian targets. Alice could order them to resupply from their foes, but that would defeat the purpose of what was coming next.
"Draw swords, all units enable personal recording," she ordered through her command tablet.
The feed was not only video but audio.
"No, no please!" a Russian soldier begged before being hacked to pieces with a dadao. Today was about sending a message.
"You come at the Queen you best not miss!"