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The year 1933 was a tough one for Germania. Two years after the end of the great war and one year after the election that brought about my minor rise to political prominence, it was also the year that the first reparations bill came due. The government paid, of course. They didn't want to be invaded. I couldn't blame them. Well, in my heart I couldn't blame them. I blamed them quite a bit in my public speeches.

The real problem wasn't just the fact that they paid but the way that they paid. It wasn't like they could just write a check. The reparations had to be paid in precious goods and foreign currency. The government decided that the best way to purchase such things was by printing out a massive stack of new paper currency. Of course, this meant that the economy was hit with a big jolt of inflation. Thanks to inflation, the government's tax revenue couldn't meet its spending needs, so the printing press was fired up once more. Naturally, this lead to more inflation.

The first iteration of this cycle took four months to really kick in. The mark lost about half its value in that time. It was a brutal hit to the economy. For me it was a vindication of everything that I had been saying about fiscal policy, but it was hard to be too happy about it. The worst part was that the government was sticking to its guns and showed no signs of doing anything but running the printing presses even harder.

The fundamental problem with what they were doing was the failure to recognize that paper money doesn't have any intrinsic value. In other words, printing money isn't by itself a productive use of resources. Money only has worth when people are willing to give you things in exchange for it, and massive over printing did nothing but drive down the value of the mark. It's possible for countries to make a little profit by printing money that's worth more than the raw materials used to make it, but to try to run a modern government off of seigniorage is like trying to cover a household budget by picking up change off of the sidewalk.

There wasn't much I could do about all this craziness other than condemn it from the sidelines. Our polling showed a sharp increase in the number of people concerned about the economy, but there wasn't much they could do. The governing coalition showed an admirable group spirit and stuck together through the crisis, so the next national election was still more than two years away. Short of an armed revolution the only thing that people could do was to take practical steps to protect themselves from inflation.

Some of the more rural areas were starting to retreat to a barter system. It was practical, but it was also depressing to see what had been a first rate market economy break down like that. I had the party shift around some of its resources so that in the worst hit areas we would provide food to rally attendees. It was only right to try to cushion the damage caused by the awful economy. The fact that it increased attendance at my speeches was a nice side effect.

The party's coffers were doing nicely. We were continuing to see a steady stream of donations. Actually, things had even improved after Elya took Weiss and his boys on a tour of factories that were avoiding any association with us for fear of communist reprisals. Once the commies had been thoroughly stomped on we saw a marked increase in donations.

The matter of computation orb construction was also proceeding smoothly. With the nation's economy fraying around the edges it was a good thing, too. Once we had a decent number of orbs stockpiled I called for a team-building retreat with the aerial mage veterans of the party in a remote area of the Germanian Alps.

If the situation ever got desperate enough that we had to use the computation orbs in earnest I would need my men to be fighting fit.

ooOoo

Elya could feel the cold air biting at her lungs every time she took a breath. It was only early fall, but the weather high up in the mountains was no joke. There was no moon tonight, and the pitch darkness combined with the chill to create a truly ominous atmosphere.

Despite that, Elya did not fidget. She did not tuck her hands into her armpits. She didn't cup her hands in front of her face and breathe into them for warmth. Her attention, like everybody else's, was fixed on Chairman Degurechaff.

The chairman had her hands clasped behind her back as she surveyed her troops from the stage. Though she was perched on top of several picnic tables that had been hastily pushed together, her bearing and demeanor gave it the same weight as the reviewing stand in front of the Imperial Palace.

She had changed her outfit for this evening. For her public appearances the chairman almost always wore a white dress underneath a short military jacket. The story was that this was originally due to her restricted wardrobe at the time she first joined the Germanian Workers' Party, but Elya thought there was a deeper reason lurking behind that explanation. Certainly her look had become a rather iconic symbol for the party as a whole. Today, though, she was aiming to send a different message: her clothes looked like nothing so much as a standard aerial mage's uniform with the rank insignia removed.

The men of the security auxiliary, all veterans of then-Major Degurechaff's command, certainly took notice of the change. Elya could hear the murmur sweeping through the ranks from where she stood. At the chairman's direction she was in a position of honor at the front of the crowd, but it was still easy enough to hear the tone of anticipation and excitement in their voices.

Chairman Degurechaff affected not to notice the chatter, apparently lost in thought as she looked out over the crowd. Her face was lit by flickering light from torches placed beside the stage. Behind her to her right were her company commanders and her faithful adjutant, while behind her and to her left a drop cloth covered an unidentified object. For a moment Elya was struck by the strange situation. Where most women her age would look at these men for protection or a romantic partner, Degurechaff carried about her a perfectly natural air of command. When she finally spoke there was no trace of uncertainty or hesitation in her voice.

"I'm afraid I've let you all grow fat and lazy these last couple of years," she said, a smile on her face. "Beating up communists is fun and all, but to be honest it's just not that much of a challenge, is it?"

She paused for a moment as the men laughed. Elya could have sworn that for some reason there was more anxiety than good humor in that laughter.

"Unfortunately, an aerial mage with his feet on the ground is just a sword rusting away in its sheath," she continued. "The good news is that it's never too late to turn things around."

She turned and whipped the drop cloth away with a flourish. Standing revealed in the torchlight was a small display table. On top of the table were thirteen gleaming computation orbs. Even having known they existed, the sight of so much military grade hardware in one place still sent a thrill down Erya's spine.

The effect on the men was much more pronounced. There was a moment of utter silence before a burst of excited babble swept through the crowd. Degurechaff gave them a few breaths of time to get the reaction out of their system before holding her hands up and returning the night to silence.

"The fact that these computation orbs exist is a secret that is more important than all of our lives," she said. She took a moment to sweep her gaze over the crowd. Something about the look in her eyes made Elya believe she was ready to execute anybody on the spot who showed signs of taking this secret lightly. After a nervous moment passed she seemed to find the men's attitude to her satisfaction and gave a slight nod.

"Of course if these ever need to be used in earnest it will be in a situation where the survival of the country is at stake. Accordingly, anybody issued an orb for combat must be the best aerial mage possible," she said, before shaking her head. "No, that isn't good enough. To be issued an orb you will have to be better than you believe is possible."

"I have always regretted how the pressure of the war cut short our training," she said, almost talking to herself. "While the current circumstances are less than ideal, at least now we'll have the time to train properly."

Elya couldn't help but notice the nervous tension that suddenly swept over the crowd. If Degurechaff noticed the change in mood she didn't so much as change her expression in response.

"We'll begin with some simple formation flying. Our special guest will be recording today's activities for after action review, so try not to embarrass me too badly," she said, pointing at Elya. "Weiss, Neuman, Koenig."

She tossed each of her captains a computation orb as she called out their name. That done, she affixed her own orb in place and disappeared up into the night sky, soon followed by the other three. For her part, Elya made her way over to the observation equipment that had been stationed behind the stage and began to bring it on line.

The chairman had gotten them a state of the art piece of gear. Elya supposed that air control monitors weren't in great demand in a country where aerial mages had been outlawed. The sheer number of switches and dials was a bit intimidating but Elya had been trained to use this machinery. Although she had never had a chance to use it in earnest, following the startup procedures from the manual seemed to work well enough.

Powered by her civilian grade computation orb, the equipment was able to display an abstract holographic presentation of the airspace around them. It could also toggle over to show a visual display of the active mana sources it was tracking. All of the relevant data would be stored for later playback. Elya frowned as she took in the initial display. A single dot traveling at 300 miles per hour while swerving wildly through the night sky. Perhaps she hadn't started the machine properly after all.

"That's strange," Elya said. She started checking over the settings she had entered into the machine. She stopped when a soft hand landed on top of her own. She looked up to see her old friend Visha humming thoughtfully as she studied the display.

"You have to adjust the setting to display each mana signature in a different color," Visha said after a moment, leaning forward to flip a few switches.

As a result of the change the single white dot turned into four separate dots of amber, red, blue, and green, all overlapping as they darted around on the display. Elya nodded in thanks as she thought over the possibilities. She had thought that formation flying was just for air shows, but if it was possible to throw off an enemy response for even a few minutes on a battlefield then this formation could be quite useful indeed.

However, there was one thing that hadn't changed.

"Is the speed reading accurate?" Elya asked. Most mages topped out around 250 miles per hour. While she had heard that the 203rd could go faster, it was a bit hard to believe the size of the disparity she was seeing.

"It should be," Visha said, nodding. "She can't really push the pace until they're flying straight."

Elya raised an eyebrow, but before she could say anything she was distracted by the sight of the four dots diving straight toward the ground. Seconds later the flying aerial mages came into sight, and it was only thanks to Elya's own magically enhanced reflexes that she was able to see them clearly as they flashed by only inches above the stage. Degurechaff was in the lead with a smile on her face. Weiss's face was a study in concentration a few inches away from her left elbow, while Neuman was in a similar position to her right. Koenig's face was a few inches back from her boots. They were over the stage and gone in an instant, disappearing into the forest surrounding the clearing.

Elya's hair was whipped into disarray from their passing, providing a visceral confirmation of the number she saw when she glanced down at the display: 350 miles per hour. The watching crowd broke into a raucous cheer. Elya couldn't help but chew on her lip.

"Is that safe?" Elya asked.

Visha didn't answer for a long moment. Worried, Elya glanced over at her friend in time to see her shrug.

"Compared to what?"

Chastened, Elya turned her attention back to the monitoring equipment. It was easy to forget that a combat mage had a different sense of danger than a normal person. Elya was proud of the work she had done during the war, but there was no denying that she hadn't been put through the same level of sheer violence as those serving on the front lines.

A moment later the dots shot out of the forest, tearing upwards at tremendous speed. In seconds they had reached the usual flight ceiling of six thousand feet and continued onward without hesitation through eight thousand feet to nine thousand and even ten thousand before leveling out and again iterating through aerobatic maneuvers.

"How long can they stay up there without any oxygen tanks?" Elya asked. The air that high was dangerously thin. Especially for somebody performing aerobic activities. It wasn't a place where humans could survive without special equipment.

"It's a spell. The Type-97 allows for a lot more parallel casting than a standard orb. That reminds me," Visha said, before turning and walking a few steps and waving to get the men's attention. "Don't forget to synchronize the mana cycle on the oxygen spell with your breathing!"

Elya shook her head, irritated with herself. She should have remembered that. It was in the files. It was just that it was one thing to read about the exploits of the 203rd and something else entirely to watch them play out in front of her. She had settled back down by the time Visha returned to look at the display over her shoulder.

The four dots had finally separated. Each was following its own erratic path and seemed to be surrounded by sensor ghosts. Elya frowned for a moment before she figured it out. Decoys. High speed, erratic flight, oxygen processing, and independent decoys, all at the same time. It seemed the stories really were true.

The amber dot suddenly stopped in its path before flying directly over toward another the blue dot. The two of them froze in place while the other two dots continued their evasive maneuvers. In an attempt to figure out what was going on Elya toggled over to the visual display. She could just make out a large blob and a small blob against a dark background. The two of them seemed to be talking. If she had to guess, the large blob looked like he was in trouble.

"What's going on?"

"Koenig," Visha said, shaking her head. "He gets sloppy with his high altitude decoys sometimes. She really isn't letting anything slide today."

They watched the display together, growing increasingly uncomfortable as the chewing out continued. Elya thought about speaking up but bit her tongue. It wasn't her place to interfere. That didn't keep her from sagging in relief when Visha broke the silence.

"I should probably say something," Visha said, before grabbing the handheld microphone attached to the monitoring station and toggling it on. "01, I have the second group ready to go. We can begin on your approval."

There was another long pause. Elya could see a definite reaction from the smaller blob on the screen, confirming her guess that it was indeed Chairman Degurechaff.

"Negative. I will be leading each group personally," Degurechaff said, her voice slightly clouded with static. The channel didn't close with the end of her statement, though the rest of what she said didn't seem to be directed at the microphone. "If you can't dodge properly without some extra motivation, then fine! We'll try it your way!"

The screen dissolved into a mass of static. Elya flipped back over to the abstract display and saw the blue dot frantically evading a torrent of magical emissions pouring out from the amber dot. Her first thought was surprise that the chairman would disregard the chance of discovery. It was true that they were in a remote area and would only be detected if a long range mana detection array were pointed at them specifically, but even that was more of a risk than she thought Degurechaff had been willing to take. Elya's second thought was concern for Koenig's well-being as the barrage continued.

"Is she trying to kill him?" Elya asked.

"No. Look, he's still moving under his own power," Visha said, pointing to the blue light on the display screen. "Even when the Major loses her temper she usually has herself under control."

Then-Major Degurechaff's temper and penchant for rather extreme actions were both infamous throughout the military. If not for her sheer military brilliance either trait could have gotten her in trouble. Elya's first thought was to reject Visha's comment as the biased judgment of a friend. On the other hand, for all of her flamboyance Major Degurechaff had never truly crossed the line. And she had gone from stunning success to stunning success throughout her career. Could it be that she had managed to harness her strong emotions for her own use rather than letting them use her? It would be quite a useful trait for a military commander. Perhaps even more so for a political leader.

Elya was pulled from her thoughts when the flying group made their reappearance, descending calmly onto the stage. Weiss and Neuman both looked winded. Koenig looked both tired and lightly singed. Degurechaff looked, if anything, more energetic than she had before taking off. She didn't waste any time before waving her three captains off the stage and pointing at her next targets.

"Company one, first platoon, echelon formation," Degurechaff called out. "I'll take point, Serebryakov will be at the rear. Please remember to fly around the trees instead of through them."

The chosen group took off and formed up in a staggered line before dashing off into the dark. Instead of gaining altitude they headed straight for the forest. Elya turned her attention back to the monitoring equipment.

She couldn't quite keep a wry smile off of her face as she watched the dispassionate display of ever more astounding aerobatics. Back when they were both cadets she and Visha had been graded quite similarly at the end of their flight training. Elya had wondered from time to time if she could still keep up with her old friend. The view in front of her irrefutably exposed any such thoughts as the flights of fancy that they were. The years of training and battle had forged Visha into a formidable aerial mage indeed.

That was all right, though. Elya had her own strengths. In order for the Empire to rise again they all would have to serve in their own way.

ooOoo

I hovered silently in midair, relying on my ability to sense mana passively to follow the drama going on below me. When the formation training had gotten boring I had switched things up. We were currently engaged in a twelve man aerial free for all. The only restrictions were that straying beyond the area defined by four camp fires set up down below was disqualifying and that only melee attacks were allowed.

Early on I had gotten into a scrum with three of the men. Once they were all safely knocked out of the running I had switched over from the Type-97 orb to my Junghans Mark Three, allowing my mana emissions to fade away. Since that point I had been slowly making my way upwards and moving towards the center of our little arena. In my dark clothing on this dark night, I was effectively invisible. More importantly, every mage in this fight was relying on mana sensing for night time navigation and I was completely immune to that as long as I used the Mark Three properly.

Three other competitors remained in the fight. Weiss and Neuman were engaged in a spirited dogfight, constantly contesting for position and flipping between pursuer and pursued from moment to moment. Some distance away, Serebryakov was quietly circling their fight, no doubt keeping one eye on them while using the other to watch out for me. She was moving very quietly, actually. She was emitting less than half the mana that I would have expected from an active aerial mage. It may have been a result of her practice with the Mark Three.

Weiss caught my attention by starting an Immelman, initiating a half roll with the obvious intention of flipping over once he finished and starting an attack run on Neuman. It would have been a slick move if he were a fighter plane. As it was it just made me roll my eyes.

Imperial flight training taught aerial mages to fly based more or less on the concept that they were planes who could hover. The instructors emphasized the use of the flight spell to apply thrust to the mage's center of gravity and the use of gradual shifts in the direction of the thrust in order to fly smoothly. Overall this produced mages who were able to fly in a natural fashion, moving through the air like small and nimble planes or large and clumsy birds. It was perhaps to be expected that the Empire would apply the only known paradigm in flight when training up a new branch of the military.

It was also needlessly limiting. The flight spell at its heart was the simple application of force along a chosen vector. A skilled mage could apply two or three vectors simultaneously and could shift each vector at will. An airplane applied a single vector of thrust through the use of its propeller and was only able to change its direction in accordance with the law of aerodynamics. There was no reason for an aerial mage to be so limited.

I had had an advantage from the beginning. Others had attributed to the flexibility of a young mind, but they didn't know about my personal information advantage. Besides being familiar with more technological forms of flight, I had also been exposed to my fair share of video games. The idea of a body being yanked around by unseen forces in defiance of physics in order to avoid enemy fire was not at all alien to me.

Consider a simple turn from flying straight forward to flying ninety degrees to the left. An airplane would accomplish this by using flaps and rudder control to alter the airflow over the plane. This would cause one side of the plane to effectively drag more slowly through the air, translating the straight ahead pulling force of the propeller into a rotation to the side. The plane will describe a sweeping curve through the air before flying in the chosen direction. An aerial mage operating under the standard paradigm will mimic this turn by gradually shifting the direction of the thrust provided by the flight spell, describing a similar if tighter turn. I, on the other hand, would simply cut the old thrust while applying a new thrust in the desired direction along with a second vector of thrust negating the speed I had built up in the original direction. The end result was a little herky jerky but undeniably resulted in a faster change of direction.

Experienced soldiers usually tweaked the standard training. The most common trick was to decouple thrust from body position. This could be used to goof off by goosestepping through the air or more seriously to make shots that were impossible if you were trying to mimic a bird in flight. It was very rare for a soldier to go much beyond that, though. Even the veterans of the 203rd had largely resisted my efforts to revise their basic flight skills. In a combat situation it's natural to want to stick with the tried and true, especially when it's working. In the end they seemed to group my flight abilities in with the impossibilities enabled by the Type-95 and gave up on duplicating my tricks for themselves.

Now, though, there was no imminent combat to excuse them from training properly. Weiss had just given me the convenient opportunity of an object lesson as his half roll looked set to send him flying directly under me. I did a quick calculation and then cut the power from my flight spell.

I readied the Type-97 but didn't activate it. Even with the wind whistling in my ears I was capable of detecting mana emission without a computation orb. It soon became clear that Weiss would pass beneath me before I could reach him, but that was ok. At the proper moment I activated the Type-97 with an immediate burst of downward acceleration. At the same time I spun reinforcement magic down to my legs and braced myself.

Both my heels crashed straight through his defensive shell to smash into the small of his back. He arched backwards, conveniently bringing the back of his head into range for a quick rabbit punch to make sure he was out of the competition. I finished by using his back as a springboard together with another burst of acceleration.

Neuman was still trying to figure out what had happened when my fist plowed into his stomach. He doubled over straight into a rising headbutt, and that was that. I crossed my arms and tsked quietly in disappointment as I watched him fall. Both Neuman and Weiss had been caught by Grantz, who had drawn safety warden duty. At least one of my men was doing his job properly.

A burst of mana behind me reminded me that I had one other competent soldier under me. I used the flight spell to anchor my head in place and rotate my body, sending my feet flying forward and up. I had completed a half turn and was in a headstand position when I saw a flash of red hair. Visha looked to be imitating my Superman punch, trying to take me out in a single hit. I approved.

Unfortunately for her, the commitment to the attack left her vulnerable. I started accelerating to match her speed while maintaining my body position even as she passed below me. I lashed out with my fingers curled over like claws, the miniature mage blades at the end of my fingernails easily dispersing her defensive shell. That done, and now almost motionless relative to her, it was easy enough to reach forward and take hold of the back of her neck.

I gave Visha a gentle shake and all the fight went out of her. As I swung back down to a normal standing position she went limp in my grip, looking for all the world like a submissive puppy.

"You got too excited and let your mana slip just before you attacked," I said.

"You knew I was there the whole time," she replied, pouting. It was amazing how quickly she could shift from a hardened aerial combatant to a soft-hearted young woman.

I chuckled. "Most mages wouldn't have noticed you. You've gotten pretty sneaky since you started working with the Mark Three."

I let her go so that we could fly side by side back to the clearing where the rest of the security auxiliary was waiting. She fell in beside me without saying a word. Even knowing her as well as I did I had a hard time judging just how she was feeling. Well, either way, she deserved a little positive reinforcement.

"Really, it's a relief to me that at least one person has kept her skills sharp," I said. "I'll leave the next group to you."

"You mean..."

"I'll step aside and act as an observer," I said. "The duty of the untouchable mistress of the air for the men to use to test themselves... I leave it to you."

She nodded, her expression firming up as she visibly shifted back into combat mode. I felt a little bad for the fellows who would be joining the next round of battle royale. Well, they'd be better off for it in the long run. Call it tough love.

Visha was, by far, the aerial mage who had absorbed the most of my flight techniques. At some point she had come to trust my judgment even over common sense; if I thought there was a better way to fly than what the Imperial academy was teaching, then she thought the same thing. As a result, leaving myself aside, if I needed an aerial mage to win a solo fight against anybody in the world she would be my pick. Even against me, in a fight using the same computation orb we were a fairly even match. My only clear advantage was my high inborn magical ability. The only reason I had been able to win so cleanly this time was her choice to commit to an all or nothing attack.

In a more extended dogfight I would usually be able to grind out a win against her, but it would be a tough fight. Given enough matches she would win her fair share as well. By stepping aside now I could preserve my own untouchable reputation for the moment, which would be quite useful in breaking the men's bad habits. I could also use the break. Flying was fun, but even I tired out eventually.

Abuse of authority? No, it's called effective delegation. Or, if I must, the privilege of command. Being the boss of a group is a heavy responsibility. It's only natural that such a burden is balanced out with a few advantages on the other side.