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Teacher and Pupil


Sarah Tintagyl

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[i]Versailles, France[/i]

"And if history would be any guide Your Highness, then an opportunity such as this would be foolish to pass up." Said Marshal St.Croix as he stared at Therese across the drawing room, the Empress laid out on a parlor couch staring intently at the bright sun through the glass windows. "All the great leaders of the world were also capable generals, to be counted among them would only help in your governance of France."

Therese scoffed and sat up. "Isn't that why you're employed by the government Jean? Isn't that why I've allotted so much time for the education of you, your senior and junior officers, this is just more responsibility that I have to tend to now, instead of focusing on what is really important. We have our vote in the Confederation of Arctic Nations to consider, the moving of South German naval material to Brest, along with developing Frontenac and Hong Kong. Now you want to pile military training onto an already busy schedule."

Jean smiled and patted Therese on the shoulder. "Your Highness, you don't run the entire government of France by yourself." He chuckled. "If that was the case then I'm sure the country would have already reached perfection ten times over. The world just isn't that perfect my dear." She rolled her eyes and stood up off the couch as the Marshal followed her. "To be trained in the arts of warfare, tactics, logistics, and so forth, it will make you an even greater indispensable ruler Madame. Think, all the great rulers of Antiquity, the Caesars, Charlemagne, Joan of Arc, Napoleon, Martens and so forth. All great leaders, geniuses of both domestic, foreign, and military affairs. That is what you will be able to achieve."

"And this gentleman, he's from Metz?"

"Strasbourg actually."

"Oh? A German?" Therese's eye widened. "And he was gracious enough to volunteer for this service Jean?"

"Well Talles recently sent a letter to the North German government, considering that our relations with the South Germans are doing so well, we need to pay a bit more attention to our northern neighbors and this was the solution. For a recent graduate from one of the German Military Academies, and so close to France, to come and teach the Empress the in's and out's of modern warfare. More that you can get from just simply reaching a book on strategy or tactics. I've heard that a great deal of this experience will be field work."

Therese was already beginning to dislike the sound of the coming ordeal, but she kept her conversation neutral and hopeful sounding. "A recent graduate? I would have expected at least someone that had been around the block a few times, if you know what I mean. I mean hell Jean, why can't you teach me?"

The Marshal smiled and chuckled. "The same reason you would rather not be doing this at all. Our officers simply don't have the time and while we could take one of the professors out of the military academy in Paris, doing that won't in turn build such strong relations with North Germany. Think of it as killing two birds with one stone Your Highness." He said as they approached the end of one of the corridors. As they neared the doorway, the doors swung open as a chamberlain stood in the passageway and bowed low to the Empress and Marshal.

"I apologize to disturb you both, but the gentleman from Strasbourg has arrived and is waiting in the Hall of Mirrors, the Empress is expected."

Jean took Therese's hand and kissed it gently. "Then Au Revoir, Your Highness, do your mind proud and don't let him walk all over you. What you may not have in military strategy yet, you most certainly have in nerve." The Empress shook her head and left the Marshal, following the Chamberlain down the various staircases and hallways to the entrance to the Hall of Mirrors, where the doors were parted and the French Empress for the first time gazed upon the young German Officer from Strasbourg.

She smiled, her head still high as she walked over to him an held out her hand to take his own. "Monsieur, welcome to Versailles, I have been told you are my tutor?"

OOC: Closed Sarah and Martens

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The young man enters the room and salutes briefly. Just out from the Officers' School in Northern Germany, from the most respected military tradition. He has read up on ancient warfare, such as Julius Caesar's, he has read up on Machiavelli's art of war and Sun Tzu's as well, and later on has read about Mannelig's campaigns among many other things. He has been taught war by Tambarskjelve, by the Elder Martens personally as well. However, he was not exactly all up to tradition, not all the way "Loyal" to the Old Guard. Because of this, he decided to volunteer for the french project, wanting to test his own theories, his own ideas, without needing to stick to the precepts of the elders. He viewed himself as a figure ready to bring a new light to the oldest of arts.

Like most people from his country, he is very tall, a little too pale for his own good and blonde, while his eyes were green. His face could be best described as a rectangle of angular forms...the hair, very short, very carefully arranged, and his body built through exercise into a weapon made him look equally capable to fight in a trench than in the depths of a bunker when one were to see his Feldgrau colored uniform in the usual German insignia. However, he would not wear this uniform for long, he'd surely be issued a French one. Having been in an area long disputed between France and Germany, he was able to speak perfect French, although there was something about him that didn't feel exactly French-like, maybe something in his air, something that could not be grasped.

"Good day, my Empress. Kaj Heinrichsson Riedelmann, Major General. Here to serve." He removes his cap and nods respectfully, kneeling on one knee only, respectfully. A military man through and through, seeming to fit to what was expected of the Northern war machines. He had a spear attached to the back of his uniform and sheathed, and also a sidearm, an old pistol, inherited from his father. An unusual combination of the old and the new. He also brings with him a small document encased in plastic for protection.

"I have brought a message from my Chancellor."

He would hand her the message. It would be a letter from Martens, considering the creation of a Franco-German Division, or simply Frankish Division.

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Therese nodded and took the letter from Riedelmann and opened in scanning through the words. "Oh, well this is interesting. Jean was right, this would be the beginning of much better relations from the two of our nations." She sighed and looked up at the Major General and beckoned him to rise. "I do hope your Chancellor is taking my best friend's death better than I am. Adelaide was a very dear friend of both myself and I believe she and the Chancellor developed feelings for each other and for the rebels to take that away from us, it is a true sin. I will be sure to send him my well wishes in the future, consider yourself lucky General. Monsieur Martens is one of the better leaders on this rock we call a planet, it is not often that countries are both great and have great leaders at the helm."

"However, that aside." She folded the letter in her hand and called a chamberlain over to place it in her office for later when she could reply to the Chancellor. "I have been told that you are a recent graduate of the German Military Academy and that you are to be my tutor in the Military Arts of War." Therese chuckled. "I went to school for political science and history, so I'm afraid that I don't have the exact qualifications at the moment to be a military leader, but I'm young so maybe that will help." Therese and Kaj couldn't be anymore different though, she was not excessively tall, she slender, he strong, he careful, her outgoing and curious. "Anyways, I'm not exactly sure how you want to start. I have a few books up in my library, Sun Tzu, Clausewitz, Napoleon's Memoirs, Nelson's Memoirs, and Rommel, I don't know what else really constitutes things such as this. I figure it would be up to you Monsieur Riedelmann, you are the Tutor after all. My very own Septimus Hodge." She chuckled and turned and looked down the corridor, turning back to see if he had gotten the [i]Arcadia [/i]reference.

"Your lead Monsieur."

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He shakes his head. "The death affected him greatly. That is why we had an entire week of National Mourning for her. Last time we had any such things, General Mannelig had died." He rises, but continues to stand as if at attention constantly. He tilts his head for a moment, slightly surprised, "You mean to say that you have studied Politics and History but do not understand War? You must have not understood what you read. Politics and History [i]are[/i] war." - And so it was, the typical response of a Nordlander and a German before them. Even for a civilian. That was their strength, but also their flaw. "If that is the case, you should re-read all of the books which you have read on those subjects, but read them as if you were a Soldier in a Foxhole. Read them with a different mind, a different perspective. Not the perspective of a...knight of sorts. The perspective of a common man with a rifle. If you cannot graps what I mean by this, read up on World War One...that is the best...the problem is that you read what you read with a peaceful, and not a warlike mind."

He begins walking.

"I will also need to know what we are working with. I need a full review and inventory of your Forces. Not only on paper, but I also wish to see for my own eyes. War is, as an art, something with depends on the spiritual. Not in the paranormal sense of the word, spiritual as in what we'd say "Kampfgeist" in German. Because for us, Spirituality is the exact same thing as Fighting Spirit. I'd rather have a bloodthirsty Frankish Man with a sawn off shotgun than a state-of-the art body armor equipping an emotionless robot-soldier. Then I will know what we should do...how soon can you arrange this, my Empress?"

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"Well I guess I never read those books thinking I would have been Empress of a nation either." She said as they began to walk through the corridor heading out towards the gardens. "My first position Monsieur was as Mayor of Bordeaux, so the thought of actually commanding troops was the last thing on my mind. However I will most definitely re-read the books over then next few weeks and read them as you said, a soldier, though I'm sure it might take some imagination for that to come across as well. As for actually seeing the army as is, we could probably take a trip to the Chateau de Pau, that is the main military headquarters, I don't believe Marshal St. Croix will be there, but General Delacour of the Imperial Guard should be, if I alert her of our arrival, to have a contingent of soldiers prepared for your review. The main training barracks is located at Pau as well so it will make it much easier on her. I can have my driver take us there now. Though, if you'll allow me first General Riedelmann to get out of my dress. I don't think it would be best to review any army looking like an absolute aristocrat."

Therese let Kaj relax for a moment in the palace guards as she hurried back up to her private quarters to get changed. The military uniform of the Empress, given that she was in fact the highest ranking officer in the nation, was surprisingly plain. A neatly pressed blue frock coat with the insignia of the Imperial House of Zelle, golden epaulets, tight white pants, and black leather boots. No hat graced her head and she tied her hair in a tight ponytail and headed back down to meet the Major General in the gardens. "Well then, I believe Pierre is ready for our journey, if you would be so kind as to escort me General, we can be on our way."

Once in the town car, the two headed south arriving at Pau in a few hours, the Chateau was the Command Center of the French Army and had been the Command Center during the Aquitaine State. Adelaide had lived there and upon her death a memorial had been erected for the First Marshal of the Seventh Republic, who had died in service of France. Underneath the statue stood another woman who commanded and demanded the same respect that Adelaide had, even if her rank was one short lower. She bowed and clicked her heels. "Your Highness, General Riedelmann, General Claire Delacour of the Imperial Guard at your service. I have been told that the General wishes for a review of the French army stationed in Pau, I would be able to accompany both of you, I just need to know what the General is interested in reviewing first. Besides Naval Forces at Brest and Marseilles, every potion of the French military can be reviewed, infantry, the Imperial Guard, the air force, and our armored divisions as well."

Therese smiled at the aura of definite and discipline in Claire's voice as she went through, she had been St.Croix's Tank Commander before the Civil War and had been a perfect candidate to serve as his second. "Whatever you think is appropriate General."

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"We'll go one by one. First Airforce, then Infantry, then Armor, finally Imperial Guard and later I'll have aircrafts to see the navy. Once I do all this, we will have a talk to discuss plans and organization...but I do warn you, Empress, if you hope to lead your Soldiers, as I said, you have got to understand what it is like to be a soldier. I request that you go through one month of basic training, one month of basic life as a soldier. This will not only prepare you but also prove to yourself and them that you're suitable to lead. But I will have no mercy upon you for being an Empress...on the contrary..."

"We must prepare your army. You're a part of it. You must be prepared to. Now, where can I see those nice planes and facilities?" He grins. A bit of a sadist he was.

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Therese sighed, she knew those words would be coming up soon where she would be thrown into the lion's den to call it such, the sadism in his voice didn't help. Prussian discipline was notorious, naturally it was effective, but the idea of leading through goodwill would be completely gone, you lead through fear and in Enlightenment Tactics, which Therese was partial too, Napoleon, Frederick, and Peter, were all advocates of such training. For her not to be apart of that, would be going against her philosophies. "I wouldn't expect you to go easy on me Kaj, as you send it would only be detrimental to our whole training. I guess I should start reporting to the training camp tomorrow then?" She sighed and closed her eyes.

"Well actually, I'm in complete agreement with the General, in fact Your Highness, I think it would be best for you to head their now and acquaint yourself with the surroundings of recruit life. Alexandre!" Claire shouted back as a young lieutenant ran up to her side.

"Madame?"

"The Empress will be going through a month of basic training as a soldier, see to it that she is respected and equipped properly at the training barracks, her training starts tomorrow along with the other recruits in that battalion who will be trained personally by myself and General Riedelmann here."

"But...we've only just begun." Therese leaned forward, almost in shock.

"This way Your Highness. Please, we'll get you into your battalion as quick as possible." Alexandre asked, but kept his respect for the Empress as he offered his hand to her. Whether she was a recruit in the army or not now, she was still Empress of France and that was not to be forgotten. Her face was miserable as she looked back at Claire and Kaj, walking down the hill and away from them. After Therese had disappeared out of sight, Claire turned back to Kaj and looked at him sternly.

"I realize that her training is important, but I will not allow this to come down to embarrassing her. She will train like the rest of them and she can be pushed to succeed like any soldier is, do not make a mockery of her or anyone under our command. I am not sure how you train in North Germany, but I train my men hard and I push them damn hard, but they are at the end of the day, still human." She smiled and nodded after the statement. "But with that out of the way, please General, if you would be so kind as to follow me. The main hanger of our air force is not too far away."

A good distance away, Claire and Kaj arrived in the hanger of the French Air Force, the Armee de l'Air. "The primary fighter of course of the air force is the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Mirage_2000"]Mirage 2000[/url], of which we have eighty-five squadrons of, though there is a great deal of talk of reformatting the air force to include a greater variety of planes. I know there has been talk about hiring South German engineers to design a custom air craft, but that's still on the drawing board."

Edited by Sarah Tintagyl
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"This will help greatly. Now, when you order your soldiers to do something, you will know exactly what it is that you order, what they can and cannot do...you will have true grasp on tactics. Often leaders end up requesting their soldiers to do the impossible due to misunderstanding their capacities, and also then due to not understanding them, they cannot exploit their capabilities through originality and flexibility...It's like conducting an orchestra, you need to have some experience with the individual instruments in order to understand what you're doing..."

So it would be. He is pleased. He expected that most other people would say no, in her position. But she did not. He smiles, not speaking further of the subject until it is brought up again by Claire, "This is about making a Soldier, not about breaking one. The only humilliating thing is not to fight. You will see. If you wish, you can well be present in the training."

He looks the Mirage up and down, considering it carefully. "Hmm. This has got to go. Just by looking at it, I can tell that it is not stealthy enough. Do not get me wrong...years ago, it used to be top of the line. But compare it to our fighter and Southern Germany's fighters and...it's as good as dead." He shakes his head. "You need something new. Both Germanies are extremely advanced nations. Having something designed by Southern Germany is a good idea, then another, cheaper idea is to use what we're using. Raptors. F22B, featuring several upgrades from the older F22As. You're a powerful, large nation, statistically stronger than ours. You should have at least planes which are as good as ours. I have read up, you have enough funding to do the trick...this is a good country."

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"Well I will have our companies get on it right away, indeed there was the idea of switching to the Raptor, unfortunately a lot of the air force is still from the construction from Aquitaine. I'm sure the Empress..." Claire chuckled. "Even her current state of mind will approve of such a switch and construction, it really shouldn't take a great deal of time either. Especially if the entire military industry is rushed for completion, one of the benefits of an Imperial Monarchy. But to continue, the French Bombers, you might be a bit more impressed with then the fighter. These are more recent."

Taking Kaj to another hanger, decently close, three types of bombers had been lined up for display to the Major General. The [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-1_Lancer"]B-1 Halberd [/url], the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-2_Spirit"]B-2 Phantome[/url], and the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-52_Stratofortress"]B-52 Le Fortresse Supeme[/url]. "But of course this is why you were brought, to make sure that everything that France currently has will have the ability to be prepared for the most costly of wars, if such things would ever reach our soil. If the entire air force needs to be revamped, then so be it."

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"No. This is fine...this is acceptable. In Germany however, we do not have many bombers. Most of our airforces are designed to protect the skies rather than the classical blitzkrieg in which they're ment to hit the ground targets. So what little bombers we do have, need to be good. Yours are around equal. You won't need to change these."

"Tell me, do you have transport aircraft? That is, to deploy light armor, medium-weight equipment as well as troops and even paradroppers?"

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"Of course we do, [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-17_Globemaster_III"]The C-17 Voyage[/url] and you would be right about the blitzkrieg tactic Kaj. Though our fighters definitely outnumber the bomber squadrons we have, but there is a plethora of transport planes available, the Voyage is just the one that sees the most use. One thing I have taken pride for paying attention to is logistics, which unfortunately seems to be cut out within most of modern tactic books from what I've seen across the world. A true shame that not enough commander pay attention to supply. But my hopes are that planes like the Voyage and its sisters will be very useful in any war France might be faced with."

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"That is right. What you need to have is a large amount of very cheap transport aircraft, which can work as a multipurpose platform and to do air-supplying as well to isolated ground formations. We have yet to build any such vehicle however. Maybe a joint research is in order...the idea is that they should be, essentially, half-discardable but mechanically reliable, minimalistic aircraft..."

"Nowadays, our view, is that while airforce alone is not as important in warfare as it used to be in the past, it is necessary absolutely for defense, even if the offensive capabilities are considered minimal. Tell me, do you have air carriers to work with your planes? They do certainly come in handy, too. But, well I think this will be all for the airforce. As long as you upgrade your fighters, you'll be fine."

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"I think Her Highness would find that idea to be splendid General, a joint operation for our peoples, though I'm afraid that to your next point. The French Air Force has not developed any real Air Carrier equipment, unfortunately, and I am ashamed to say it, we never really saw the need and priority was low. So perhaps I would be able to see some designs for a German Air Carrier and we can make up our minds from there." Claire continued to walk through the hanger with the General at her side. "Of course we might have time to review other parts of the military if you have the time, or I can take you back to the Chateau and to your room. We both have a busy day of training tomorrow." She chuckled.

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"I can probably have one of our brand-new carriers brought for you to take a look at it directly, as well. Carriers are most important as they enable you to field more aircraft. In that, having air carriers in fact is an addition not to the navy but to the airforce. But since you already do have some navy, which I hope to review soon, it will be alright. They are also ideal for Colonialism, if you should ever think of that...a floating airbase, yes?" He grins, already happy by the idea of invading far away places.

"No rest for the wicked. Time to review the military. I'll look into the Navy tomorrow. Can you have a report on your navy be sent to me tomorrow by whoever the specialist in that area is, please?"

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