Abyssus Abyssum Invocat

by Carlo Zen

  At the Commonwealth defense meeting…

  One look at the high-ranking officials in attendance was enough to gauge the Commonwealth’s situation.

  Ashtrays crammed full of cigar butts. Point people from both the army and navy who didn’t even attempt to hide their exhaustion. Rows of bureaucrats who looked vaguely ill.

  Utterly spent public servants.

  The only one among them with plenty of color in his face was a man like a bulldog who had learned how to sit. Whether he should be seen as arrogant or described as a trustworthy man full of fighting spirit depended on your point of view.

  This was His Royal Majesty’s first subject, the leader of the Commonwealth defense meeting, Prime Minister Churbull himself.

  “The prime minister hopes that the fighting will move toward the eastern front.”

  With worn-out looks on their faces, everyone present turned to the seat of honor. If only! Then we wouldn’t have to suffer. Everyone was screaming internally, that much was clear.

  Even General Habergram sympathized with them.

  “I’d form an alliance with the devil himself if need be, but what’s so awful about saying what I think? I’d be glad if the two devils duked it out among themselves.” Prime Minister Churbull spoke boldly but without pretension.

  That was his strength.

  Though he was a crazy war nut, he was stubbornly anti-Empire. Or he was an expansionist warmonger who proudly bore the Commonwealth’s stubborn imperialist principles. He was called many things, but in any case, in the Commonwealth’s political circles, Churbull was talked about in this way.

  It was even common to call him a bulldog.

  “So you’re quite devout, then.”

  “Ah, finally ready to be tucked in?”

  Would they be strange bedfellows, or was he a pious man yet tolerant of heresy? Apparently, even the roundabout nastiness delivered as jokes couldn’t pierce his thick skin.

  “You needn’t praise me so much, gentlemen. And that’s enough chitchat. What we need is time and manpower to defend our homeland.”

  If you let unpleasantness simply pass you by, it doesn’t have much effect. It’s quite astonishing, this man’s heart of steel.

  “Very well. I’ll report on our current status.”

  A representative from the Air Ministry seemed to endure some dizziness to stand and proceeded to read a compact overview of their combat situation.

  The clashes with the attacking Imperial Air Fleet and mage units were on a larger scale than imagined.

  “Several major air battles have already broken out, but the Royal Air Fleet has been successful in maintaining air superiority.”

  The interception battles against the enemy in the southern part of the mainland were the very definition of intense. Most of the enemies came from air bases in what used to be the Republic. How ironic that the Republic’s fall should come back around to bite us.

  Still, it was encouraging that their air screen was still functioning. Just as General Habergram was about to let that weight off his shoulders, thinking he could relax…

  A man who seemed to be enduring a stomachache interrupted… It was the head of the air ministry, the inspector general of the air fleet.

  “As the inspector general, allow me to add one thing. At present, we’re dipping deep into our savings. Going broke is not a question of if but when.”

  “And more specifically?”

  “We’re seeing rapid increases in attrition of aircraft, fleet personnel, and the support and relief mage troops. We’re rushing to fill the gaps with voluntary units of refugees and university student volunteers, but…”

  The loss of veterans, their replacement with green troops—it was the exact same dilemma that General Habergram was facing in Intelligence.

  The moment he realized it, he couldn’t help his shock.

  The air units get preferential treatment, and they’re still having these issues? When he saw the graph of current losses up on the board, his eyes popped wide open.

  They had maybe two thousand air troops. They had already lost over two hundred pilots. Adding in the injured, nearly half of them had left the front. In many cases, it was unclear if they would be able to return.

  Still, they were putting in the effort to maintain their fighting force. The Air Ministry had managed to replenish the personnel who left the front with the young ones stolen from Habergram in Intelligence.

  But…all they had was a head count. It would be impossible to expect the combat ability of pilots who completed their training before war began from the ones educated on an urgent basis.

  “Excuse me, but may I? These are battles to defend the airspace over the mainland. Anyone who gets hit should be able to land and then go back up again. Doesn’t this loss rate seem a bit strange?”

  The response to the question was more cause for headaches.

  “There are two problems.”

  “Explain.”

  “First, even if they get hit, the pilots are loath to use their parachutes.”

  “…Why is that?”

  “The other day, a few imperial aerial mages landed. Do you remember that?”

  “Right, it was a special unit that came in to rescue some prisoners or something, I believe?”

  Most of the people attending the meeting weren’t aware of it, but General Habergram and a few others knew that the monsters who conducted the raid were the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion.

  They were a unit that reported directly to the Imperial Army General Staff.

  Why would they send such a valuable unit in on a rescue mission? And why have such a trump card, identified as belonging to the General Staff, deployed on the western front at all, even for an aerial mage battle?

  For a time, the various Commonwealth agencies debated the questions…but now they knew the answers.

  “The police engaged the enemy soldiers who came down. This information was passed around and transformed into a rumor that enemy soldiers came down. Then it was reported multiple times that they were wearing our uniforms, and now mistaken attacks against our own ejected pilots won’t stop.”

  In wartime, gossip spreads like germs.

  So why didn’t the rumor that civilian police were attacked by an imperial special ops unit go around?

  By the time they realized, the stories had spread like wildfire and the pubs around town were full of them.

  So everyone could just see it: enemy soldiers raining down from the sky.

  The significance of the precedent carved into the minds of the citizens was a terrible thing, but the Commonwealth Army didn’t realize it until it was too late.

  “Additionally, ever since a voluntary pilot parachuted and was attacked and killed due to language issues, the pilots all say that if they get hit, they would rather die in the sky.”

  “…Try to fix that—urgently. It’s awfully backward.”

  It was a tragedy that elicited sighs from everyone present.

  A refugee who volunteered to fight for the Commonwealth, of all people, was attacked by a civilian in a patriotic frenzy the moment they touched down on Commonwealth soil.

  Even graduates from public schools were getting beaten the moment they touched down and would have been in danger had they not provided identification. They couldn’t expect an increase in pilot morale if stories like that were going around.

  By the time they found the jump in pilots dying in their aircraft, it was too late. It was such a dirty move that General Habergram felt personally tricked.

  “So what’s the other problem?”

  The prime minister pressed, and Habergram had a guess what the answer was.

  “We’re short on maintenance troops and other behind-the-scenes staff. Production facilities have increased along with the rapid expansion of our air units, but…there are too many types of aircrafts, and the maintenance teams haven’t been expanded to keep up.”

  The Air Ministry representatives protested their harsh reality
one after the other. The miserable difficulties the Royal Air Force was facing were incredibly severe.

  “As a result, it’s going to be hard to avoid lowering our rate of operation…”

  “We’ve also received feedback from the air units. They’re saying they’re having too much trouble with engines lately. When they look with an impartial eye, there are maintenance problems, yes, but the primary issue is poor manufacturing.”

  “It can’t be helped. We’re bending over backward to expand the production lines. We’re almost at the point where we’ll have to start using mobilized workers with little experience…”

  Usually, any heated debate between officials would include a vague blame game. But this grumbling with lifeless voices and borderline careless looks that said, It isn’t my division’s fault?

  It could only be called a crisis of low standards.

  When he glanced at the seat of honor, the prime minister was sighing.

  “Let’s assume our overseas colonies are our friends. Now then, we have many friends. And how about that devil we just signed the deal with? How much will they do for us?”

  “I think it will be an extremely tough fight. The attaché we dispatched says that due to previous political troubles, the structure of the Federation Army is…far weaker than anticipated.”

  “I’m sure they can’t be as bad as Dacia.”

  “Well, no.”

  The War Office representative replied that they weren’t that disappointing but in quite the vague way.

  Well, of course he was vague.

  Habergram himself had reported to the War Office on the Federation’s status. The results of the survey they’d performed on the army’s request were dreadful. Even an optimistic, or perhaps “extremely optimistic,” estimate said over half their officers lacked experience. The higher ranks of generals had completely collapsed due to years of purges.

  Personnel was at a model loss.

  The air and mage units that played such a critical role in modern combat had completely fallen apart due to a class struggle or some such.

  Though they were being hastily reassembled, their gear was all terribly old.

  As for land war weapons and artillery, they were keeping up to standard, but…since report after report said the ground troops were hopeless at cooperating with one another, the situation was grim.

  Even if it wasn’t as wretched as the Principality of Dacia, Habergram had a thorough idea of how bad things were inside the Federation Army.

  “But there’s no escaping a hard fight. After all, they aren’t in a position to leverage their numerical superiority.”

  “…What a waste.”

  “Even so, they’re taking on the brunt of the imperial forces.”

  It was pointed out that the eastern front was becoming the main fighting ground.

  Well, the Empire was anxious about its naval forces, and the Commonwealth was anxious about its ground forces… The Federation and the Empire were connected by land, so they clashed in a huge way, while the Commonwealth and the Empire continued to have aerial battles over the strait separating them.

  Frankly, the Imperial Army was putting its emphasis on the eastern front.

  “If we could shore them up, perhaps we could take some of the pressure of the aerial battles off.”

  “How exactly?”

  Prime Minister Churbull’s interest was piqued, but in response to his question, the army gave a response that would cause everyone besides itself to suffer.

  “What about deploying an air unit? On top of opening up the northern route the Federation is hoping for, we could establish a joint transport route defense squad.”

  “The navy strongly opposes the army’s suggestion.”

  “The air force also declines. Do you not understand our mainland defense situation?”

  It was no wonder; for the side receiving the advice, it must have been obnoxious.

  That word strongly indicated they would not back down. What attitude from the navy and air force as they glare at the army!

  “I beg your pardon, but may I ask why?”

  In response to the disappointed army representative’s question, they left him high and dry.

  “As you in the army are no doubt aware, creating a single chain of command often leads to trouble. We don’t need to go out of our way to work jointly,” the higher-ups in the navy spat as if it was the idea of a joint plan that they disagreed with.

  Meanwhile, the air force representative silently took out his wallet and flipped it over. His performance, as he tapped the underside, showed that not a single, measly pence would fall out.

  The meanings of both their actions were clear.

  “Would it really be so hard to cooperate with a Federation unit?” Prime Minister Churbull interjected, unable to simply stand by.

  “Our air force doesn’t have the wherewithal for such a venture.”

  “To comment from the navy’s perspective, our doctrines and structures are too different. The officers serving there and the liaison officers say it’s a better bet currently to simply maintain some degree of contact.”

  The air force didn’t have anyone to send.

  The navy might have been able to scrape together a unit, but it had no intention of doing so. And it was no wonder, given the Federation Navy wasn’t even up to brown-water operations. The idea of abandoning their essential mainland defense duty for a supply mission in airspace under enemy control didn’t thrill them.

  “Things just won’t go our way, huh?” someone murmured, and everyone took up their cigars in an attempt to ignore the awkward silence that ensued. To give the room in its purple haze a weather forecast, it was perpetually overcast like the Commonwealth sky in autumn.

  They couldn’t help but feel gloomy.

  “And? How about our dear colonists? Are they about ready to send us something besides voluntary forces?”

  “That’s a definite no. Public opinion is firmly against entering the war.”

  More than one annoyed tongue click rang out in the meeting room. It was just as those prideful Commonwealth men were reluctantly seeking help…

  If the public was raging against providing support, biting down on a cigar wasn’t going to be enough to help them endure it.

  “…Could the Empire be meddling in their opinion?”

  “General Habergram, your response?”

  At the facilitator’s question, all eyes fell on him. Everyone wanted to know the answer. So the situation is such that they’re casting off their official disinterest? They must really be expecting a lot out of the colonists.

  Unfortunately, Habergram had only bad news for them.

  “Honestly, the Empire’s influence is…not enough to be considered significant.”

  That was an indirect way to put it.

  Since he had no clear evidence, it was part speculation, but…there wasn’t even any sign that public opinion maneuvers in the Empire had a unified policy.

  Just barely, perhaps. It was only the people in the embassies, as was usual for diplomatic outposts, fighting the publicity fight in the neutral countries. And it really came down to individual skill.

  He didn’t get the sense that there was an organized propaganda campaign.

  “Their local equivalent to the Empire’s Foreign Office is active. In that sense, we can’t say the Federation isn’t meddling at all, but their efforts can’t amount to much.”

  “Why? Stealth intelligence operations aren’t unheard of. They’re a crafty lot. Couldn’t the Empire have been influencing public opinion all along?”

  “Trying to 100 percent deny that would require the devil’s proof. But please recall the Empire’s traditional stance toward foreign parties. It isn’t the sort of nation that places a terrible amount of emphasis on public opinion. The people on the ground are probably the ones making the decisions.”

  There was an “Ugh”—several attendees must have stiffened at the mention of how awful the Empire was at di
plomacy.

  The emerging military power was a product of the modern age, having made innovative advances in many realms—technological, manufacturing, economic, military, and so on.

  But for some reason, or perhaps for that very reason, the Empire was incapable of grasping the subtleties of diplomacy.

  “The imperial government’s outlook is pure idealism. We’re talking about people who believe that reason rules the world, you know! I wouldn’t be surprised if they were writing off the Unified States’ participation in the war because they couldn’t fathom the benefits of it.”

  The arrogance to think This is how the world should be—that was why large developing nations that hadn’t had a setback yet so often made a misstep.

  But regardless of how authorities in the Unified States felt, it was true that public opinion was negative on intervening. In that sense, it was perhaps natural that the Empire would lower its guard. The imperial government’s greatest ally, then, was the will of the people.

  “So this negativity is…the will of the people?”

  “Yes, Mr. Prime Minister. Unfortunately, the people of the Unified States wish to keep their distance from war.”

  He spoke dispassionately.

  Giving bad news in an emotional way was unpleasant. Any upsetting news should be delivered as objectively as possible.

  “How incredibly inconvenient. I’d really like to drag them into it…”

  “I think for that, we’ll need some time. The Foreign Office and Media Ministry are currently drawing up a wartime propaganda plan. We’re aiming to hit the intelligentsia regardless of whether they’re from the left or right.”

  “I hope allying ourselves with those devils has some benefits.”

  Had they been thinking of the pros and cons of taking the Communists as allies? Several people nodded with vague comments, which conveyed to everyone how problematic Communism was.

  But how much do they really understand? General Habergram had no choice but to critically shrug. The real problem with Communists was their ability to multiply and infiltrate. They’d ooze in like infantry through some hole or another, and before you knew it, there’d be a whole nest of them.

  Well—at that point, Habergram had to smile bitterly—we can worry about all that after we win this war.