“Aoede Westridge,” the girl in the wheelchair stated.

  “Your Trial is through that door. Once you enter, it begins,” said a disembodied voice.

  Without another word, Addie reached down and spun her wheels to move through the open door. A bright light flashed in her eyes and she found herself behind a desk in a cramped office. Looking down, she saw what looked like a class schedule with her name at the top underneath a letterhead which read, Imperial Military College.

  “Tactics (101), Battlefield Coordination (217), Topics in Command and Control (443),” she read aloud to herself. “Those sound like fun. But why am I a student in a military college?” she asked herself, just as a knock sounded on the door.

  “Come in,” she called.

  The door opened and a young woman rushed in. “Professor! It’s time for your first class. We have to hurry.” She came around the desk, grabbed a satchel of what looked like books and papers off the desk and wheeled Addie out into the hallway. “Sorry I’m running late, but I was just finishing off the last of the paperwork for my assistantship. Thank you soooo much for taking me on, Professor!”

  “Um, you’re welcome.”

  “I’ll get you to class on time, though. Can’t have the teacher being late on the first day. It’s a good thing that we were able to get all the notes copied out last night.” The girl chattered on, requiring little or no input from her boss.

  At least, that’s the impression that Addie had about their relationship. It only took five minutes or so before they arrived at a large amphitheater style classroom. Addie’s assistant, whose name turned out to be Gwendolyne, wheeled her through a door that led straight to the podium at the front. Addie ended up facing a sea of faces, all of which seemed to her to be very young. Maybe fourteen or fifteen years old. She almost giggled at the thought that she, a sixteen year old, was starting to think about fourteen year olds that way. Fortunately, she stifled the urge and her face maintained its resting professor state - which is the same as what Kari and Saki had always called her resting bitch face, and Rio and Nix called her resting boss face because they wanted to keep living.

  Gwendolyne busied herself with the papers and books on the podium while Addie surveyed the faces in front of her. All of the students were in uniform. A deep gray double-breasted coat and lighter gray slacks. There was silver trim to match the large silver buttons on the coat. Some of the students had a rank insignia on the collar while most did not. This being the Tactics 101 class, Addie assumed that these students were mostly freshmen.

  A bell sounded and the student seated at the front left corner stood and shouted, “Class! Atten-shun!” The students rose as one and assumed the position of attention. “Class! Salute!”

  Addie expected some form of hand salute, but instead the students gave a simultaneous greeting, “Good morning, Professor!” After which the student leader commanded them to resume their seats.

  “Good morning students,” said Addie. “My assistant, Gwendolyne, will hand out the notes and brief you on the administrative details of this class.”

  Which Gwendolyne promptly did, to Addie’s immense relief as she really didn’t have a clue herself. While Gwendolyn was talking, Addie skimmed through the notes she had for the class. She was amazed to find that they were in her own hand-writing, though she hadn’t seen them before.

  Gwendolyn wrapped up and passed the floor back to Addie. “Okay, class. I want to tell you that it is an honor teaching our Empire’s future military leaders.” Addie ad libbed, “In this class, we will be discussing the most important elements of individual and small unit tactics as they apply to standard operating procedures in our armed forces. I’ll be discussing those procedures, also known as the SOP, extensively in this class. The SOP is also known as the ‘book’ which collectively refers to the military doctrine we follow. While I’m sure you’ve heard people criticizing those who follow ‘the book’, I hope that by the end of this semester you will all understand how important it is that we share a common understanding of how we will react in different situations.”

  The class went on and Addie found herself enjoying the experience. The students were attentive, Gwendolyne managed anything she didn't want to deal with personally, and the subject matter was something she herself had studied in-depth. Her purpose here wasn’t yet clear, but she was determined not to worry about it.

  ###

  Addie quickly grew used to her life at the Imperial Military College. She taught one class per day: Tactics 101 on the first and third days of the week, Battlefield Coordination on the second and fifth days of the week, and Topics in Command and Control on the fourth day of the week for a double period.

  It was that course which she enjoyed the most. It was with a small group of senior students and was similar to a tabletop war game. The small room had a large table embossed with a hexagonal grid. There were many different types of terrain which could be added to the board and a large variety of units which could be used in scenarios. Addie and Gwendolyne, who was a recent graduate of the college, spent many hours planning out the different scenarios they used in the class. They started with simple scenarios and developed a smooth progression toward more difficult scenarios with advanced unit types.

  ###

  It was after mid-semester that she threw a rock into the quiet pond of her Topics in Command and Control class. Up to that point, they had gamed each scenario like a board wargame. Every person could see all of the units in play.

  Experienced commanders can easily point out the flaw in that learning plan. Nobody ever has that sort of knowledge in real life. A real battlefield is chaotic and the leaders rarely know what is happening at the front. Decisions are made on old and/or incomplete information. Messages have to be passed both up and down the chain of command. Coordination is difficult even under ideal conditions.

  This chaotic element is what Addie introduced to the simulations. There was, of course, pushback. It had never been done this way before so the students didn’t feel it should be done this way now.

  So Addie set up an exercise to demonstrate. First she enlisted the help of her Battlefield Coordination students. They were marched to the biggest gymnasium on campus and set up as a sort of living board game. Each person represented a small unit.

  Next she enlisted the help of her Tactics 101 students as messengers. Each unit on the battlefield (i.e. the gymnasium) was assigned two messengers. The entire gymnasium was marked out in hexagons and each messenger was allowed to move across two hexagons per turn.

  The senior students in Topics in Command and Control were divided into two teams and each individual was placed in a separate room. Each of these had a war map to work with and counters representing the units under their command. They were also assigned a certain number of messengers. The caveat being, they were only allowed to know information that was delivered by messenger. Likewise, the units on the field received their orders by messengers.

  Thus a simulation was set up that captured some of the chaos of battle. It did not go well. The messengers quickly learned all the ways that messages could be waylaid, misdirected, lost, delayed, misinterpreted, and etc.

  The students acting as small units on the battlefield discovered how quickly they could be lost, overwhelmed, forgotten about, destroyed, misdirected, and etc. The commanders in their isolated rooms discovered that war is hell, even before you get to the fighting, bleeding, and dying part.

  ###

  After that, there was no further objection to Addie’s changes to the game rules. Lots of important lessons were learned and carried forward into the second semester.

  In fact, it was the students who advocated for further change and experimentation. Thus the Battlefield Communications Lab (499) was born. Addie had thoughts on magical communication which her eager students explored. Spells and Skills were designed, planned, and tested to facilitate rapid secure communications between distant units. Over the course of the semester, great strides forward were taken.

  Of course, Addie was a favorite of her students in all her classes. She kept military discipline while finding ways to lead her students to excel. All of that changed near the end of the second semester as war came to the Empire.

  ###

  “Professor Westridge, the senior and junior classes of cadets have been ordered to move to supporting positions on the southern front,” stated General Galvin, the College Commandant. “Their exact role there has yet to be determined. Most likely they will be assigned as aides to senior officers.”

  Addie didn’t know how to respond to this. She had grown fond of her students and she hardly wanted to see them die. “And myself, Sir?” she asked.

  “You are faculty at this College but you are a civilian. I cannot order you to go to the front. However, I would like to ask you to go as an advisor. Your post would be at the rear with senior command and your role would be as a liaison for the cadets from your Battlefield Communications Lab. Your assistant would go with you.”

  Addie thought about it for a moment. She had not forgotten that she was undergoing a Trial. She felt like her own purpose here was finally being revealed. “All right, I agree.”

  ###

  It took three weeks for Addie and the thirty-seven cadets under her supervision to reach the theater of war. It was another week and a half before someone remembered they existed. Then another week for someone to make a decision about where they were to go and what they would do.

  Which was, in a nutshell, nothing. They were posted to Central Command as observers.

  “Gwendolyne,” called Addie.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Is the General aware of our communication capabilities?”

  “I’m not sure ma’am. We’ve informed as many of the officers of his staff as I can reach. The basic consensus is that they don’t want to trial something new in the early stages of a campaign.”

  Addie sighed. She was bored and wanted a chance to field test her innovations. “All right. Here’s what I want you to do. Take a few of the cadets - the ones with names which carry some weight. Ask them if we can station one cadet in their situation room to observe. Send a couple other cadets to arrange a decent size tent with a map table. We’ll have our observer send information so we can mirror their map. At the very least, we can use the General’s strategies for lessons while we’re hanging around.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” replied Gwendolyne, happy to have a task to work on. “Russisch, Feodrev, Millen: with me!”

  And the plan was put into action. It took about three days to get it all set up and begin discussion. By then it was too late.

  ###

  It was a hot rainy day when it happened. Addie and her cadets were having a discussion in their map tent. A bomb was smuggled into headquarters, and with one loud bang, the head of the chain of command was cut off. Along with most of his general staff, their aides, and all the paperwork.

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  Their little mirror HQ was about three hundred meters away from the real HQ. Not too close but not quite far enough. The explosion threw Addie out of her chair and her cadets off their feet.

  Addie reacted immediately. “Gwendolyn! Take two squads, grab the weapons and ammo, and set up a close perimeter. Russisch! Take a squad and do a quick recon. Find out what happened.”

  Cadets lurched into motion and quickly sorted themselves out. Strong hands lifted Addie back into her chair. “Who was in the command tent?” Addie asked Cadet Gurvan, the leader of the single squad left in the tent.

  “It was Millen ma’am.” He turned his head and gave a direction to another Cadet, “Silvar! Try to contact Millen.”

  “Good idea Gurvan. Set two others to establish contact with the perimeter squads and the recon squad.”

  “Yes ma’am!” Gurvan hustled off to take care of his business.

  It took her well-drilled Cadets a mere five minutes to set up their perimeter. Gwendolyne left a Cadet in charge and returned. By then they’d heard back from the Scouts.

  “Ma’am, the entire senior command structure has been wiped out. There’s nothing but a crater at HQ. We haven’t been able to determine who’s currently in command. The senior-most officer we’ve found is a Captain and they have their hands full just trying to get their own command back on their feet. Millen is MIA, presumed dead.” She stopped, blinking heavily while convulsively swallowing. “The people at command … we only found a few … pieces.”

  “What about the messengers from the front?”

  “They’re just kind of milling around right now.”

  Addie thought for a minute, stroking one hand along her check absently. Then, with a decisive gesture of her hand she gave new orders. “Gwendolyne, expedite the search for someone to take charge. Send someone over to talk to the messengers. We’ll collate their information and keep the map updated for whomever takes charge.”

  People scurried off. Addie gazed at the map pensively. She had a strong suspicion that there was more going on than just an assassination.

  Sadly, she was proven right. Over the next eight hours messages came in from most of the units on the front line. Every one of them had suffered a guerilla attack by one or more groups of insurgents. Roughly half of those had succeeded in eliminating the units’ senior commanders. Another quarter of them were wounded to some degree.

  These attacks had been coordinated with the launch of an offensive across the entire front. Chaos ruled. In most cases, the remaining command structure at the smaller units was still unaware that senior command had been decimated as well.

  On a positive note, a senior commander had been found. Colonel Wegner had been en route to meet up with his Brigade when the attacks had happened. He’d spent an uncomfortable two days dodging enemy patrols in an attempt to link up with them but in the end had to fall back to Central HQ.

  Bad for him, but good for the Army. He assessed the situation quickly and took over, commandeering Addie’s tent. And as a major plus, Gwendolyne was able to convince him to let the Cadets set up a communications network. Addie addressed them before they left.

  “Cadets, you’ve all been trained in long-distance communication. You can communicate with each other, and you can communicate with me. That makes you uniquely qualified to change the course of this battle. We don’t really know who is left to command in the field, who has seniority, or even how to find them. The Colonel has authorized us to set up a communications network. Does anyone have any suggestions?”

  “Ma’am,” the senior-most cadet said, “I suggest we determine the likeliest locations of senior officers and dispatch ourselves individually to make contact and establish communications. If we pair up with the existing messengers as they move, that will give us the highest likelihood of finding those units.”

  “A good suggestion. Anything else?”

  A female cadet raised her hand tentatively. “Ma’am, I think that you should stay here at this central location, collate the information we send back to you, and direct us accordingly.”

  “Another good idea. I’ll look into setting up another mirror HQ. It doesn’t hurt to have redundancy. I’m concerned about my lack of authority, however.”

  “Ma’am,” Gwendolyn chipped in, “You’re the most qualified among us. Your academy remit allows for the direction of the cadets you supervise. Our goal is to establish a communication network. Having you direct us, especially since you know the spells and magic involved, will make us much more effective.”

  Addie thought long and hard. Finally she said, “Very well. Each of you prepare your kit. You will move out as soon as you’re equipped.” The cadets prepared quickly as Addie studied the maps she had. By the time they were ready, Addie had their orders.

  ###

  A lot of dying happened over the next week. Of the thirty-one cadets Addie sent out, seven were never heard from again. The others made contact with units on the front. Half of them even made contact with the units they were supposed to make contact with. It took two days for the communication network to become effective. Another two days before command and control was reestablished. During that time, Addie lost another five cadets.

  Addie was left with only Gwendolyne for support. They’d set up another situation map and kept the communications network working in shifts. There were two Cadets assigned to work communications directly for the Colonel at the main HQ.

  Under the Colonel’s direction, the Army started pulling itself back together. Which, of course, is when another attack came. There was a shortage of soldiers at HQ, most units now having been sent forward where they were needed most. The basic camp tasks had been taken over by civilian contractors. Those contractors had been infiltrated.

  Gwendolyne was on night duty in their tent when it happened. Gunfire and explosions first, then shouting and screaming coming closer to her location. She got up and reached for her weapon but before she could even chamber a round men burst into the tent. She screamed and turned to run but it was too late. Shots were fired. She felt a burning sensation in her back and her left leg collapsed under her as a bullet hit her femur. She fell to the ground and rolled onto her back. Falling into despair, she looked up into the cruel sneering face of her murderer as he pointed his pistol at her head.

  ###

  Even though it was her off shift, Addie hadn’t been asleep. She rarely slept and when she did she didn’t sleep well. She might be lacking in empathy but the deaths of those close to her still bothered her.

  So she was out walking. Jumping from shadow to shadow in the flickering torchlight. This world has such an odd mix of technology, she thought as she stopped to let a car putter past. It was then that she noticed the unusual quiet around her.

  Extending her Vampire senses to their limit, she noticed that there were far more people about than usual for this time of the night. And they were grouping up and moving with unknown purpose. With a decisive spin, she turned and headed back toward her tent.

  She’d fed just recently so she had plenty of energy. There were a lot of horses at the camp and she found them to be a convenient source for blood snacks. Again with the odd mix of technologies she thought distractedly. Horses and cars mixed into the same Army units.

  She was within a hundred meters of her goal when the attack kicked off. Vicious guerilla attacks on sleeping troops, bombs and grenades thrown into unit headquarters, and fusillades of bullets pouring into the guards and working troops in different locations. Addie swore. She was getting so tired of this.

  Spurred into action by the carnage she unleashed her inner Vampire and went to work. First grabbing a lone attacker, she drained his life with her Exsanguinate Skill. This filled her energy reservoir to the point of explosion and she swiftly put that energy to work.

  Dashing into a shadow, she emerged behind a squad of attackers. Moving like the wind, she used her overbearing strength to snap one neck after another in quick succession. Grabbing a satchel of grenades from one of her victims, she melted into another shadow, emerging just long enough from another to pull one of the pins and toss the whole bag at the feet of another group of attackers.

  Emerging from another shadow she heard the explosion followed by the agonized screams of the few who were left alive. A cruel smile graced her lips as she searched out another target. Her goal was to clear the immediate area around her tent before checking in with Gwendolyne.

  Just at that moment there was another tremendous explosion. This time coming from the direction of the main HQ tent. With a curse, she jumped shadows again to take her frustrations out on another group of attackers. She knew in her heart that she had just lost another Cadet.

  It took her less than two minutes to get to the tent where Gwendolyne was on duty. Which was almost precisely ten seconds too long. She dispatched the group milling around outside and jumped inside the tent just in time to see her Aide gunned down from behind. With a scream like a banshee she set her sights on the man who was raising his pistol for the coup de grace.

  Moving almost too swiftly to see, she clamped her fingers around the wrist with the gun, twisting mercilessly to hear a satisfying crack as his bones gave way. His snarling face turned toward her just in time to meet her elbow. His head snapped back and away just enough for her to bite into his neck. His scream was long and drawn out, slowly lowering in volume as his flesh was drained to a mere husk around his bones.

  Addie relaxed her jaw and the man’s desiccated body thumped to the floor. Gwendolyne’s eyes were wide with fear and pain as she met Addie’s. Then she slumped to the floor as blood loss sapped her strength. Addie dropped to her knees and started giving first aid.

  ###

  The attack was eventually beaten off. Once again, the Army was without a leader. However, the communication network was still up, even though Addie was the only centrally located person who could communicate with all the others.

  And thus it happened. Because there were no longer any senior officers at HQ and because she was the central node of the communication network, Addie became the de facto commander for five days. During that time, she managed to organize the chaos enough to establish a new front. After a week, another ranking officer managed to get to her position and assume command. Two months later, Addie and all sixteen of her surviving cadets were relieved of their duties and reunited at the rear.

  Relieved of her central role, Addie turned to new endeavors. Under her direction, a training unit was established near the Headquarters to train more soldiers in battlefield communication magic. Three months after that, Addie and her cadets returned to the Imperial Military College.

  ###

  Addie sat in a chair reading a book aloud. Gwendolyne’s recovery was still underway although she had rallied lately, even to the point of being able to sit in a chair for a limited amount of time.

  With a sigh, Addie put a bookmark in the book and closed it softly. Lifting her head, she met Gwendolyne’s searching gaze. With a lift of her chin, she said, “Out with it, Gwen. What do you want to say?”

  “Ma’am, I … I want to know …,” her voice lost strength and trailed off.

  “Gwen. I don’t know what you think you saw that night, but I want to tell you two things.”

  Gwendolyne swallowed and gave a choppy nod of her head.

  “The first is that you have nothing to fear from me.”

  Gwendolyne nodded her head again, avoiding eye contact now.

  “The second is that there are things that you don’t want to know. Things you will never be able to understand.”

  Gwendolyne visibly swallowed again, “Yes ma’am, I … understand. It’s just…”

  “It’s time for you to rest again. They’ve recalled me to the College. I probably won’t see you again for a while.”

  “Okay. I’ll miss you ma’am,” Gwendolyn gave her a shaky smile. “Things won’t be nearly as exciting without you around.”

  “I should hope not! I think we’ve all had way more excitement than we ever wanted over the past few months.”

  With a laugh, she squeezed Gwendolyne’s hand one last time and walked out.

  ###

  It was a brisk autumn morning. The entire complement of the Imperial Military College was gathered on the parade ground. The Cadets stood at parade rest in their ranked platoons. The faculty stood in front of them, while the civilian staff was gathered to each side. All of them facing General Galvin at the podium.

  Other dignitaries sat in rows of chairs behind him on the stage. Addie sat in her chair at the far end of one of the rows listening to the General’s speech about the dedication and heroism of the Cadets who were lost in the war. Idly, she wondered why she wasn’t down with the other faculty.

  She brought her attention back to the General as he wrapped up his speech and turned the podium over to his Adjutant. One by one, the Adjutant called up the surviving Cadets from the group she had led to the front. Each of them received recognition for the pivotal role they had played in the war. Addie’s heart swelled with pride for them. Finally the last Cadet resumed their place in the ranks and Addie thought the ceremony would end.

  Only to be surprised as she heard the Adjutant call out, “Professor Westridge, front and center!”

  Strong hands took hold of the push handles of her chair and she looked up to see the General behind her. She was wheeled to center stage and turned to face the company.

  “Attention to Orders!” At this call from the Adjutant, the entire College stood and snapped to attention with a crash of colliding heels.

  “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the one thousand one hundred twenty-ninth year of this Imperial Dynasty, Professor Aoede Westridge, acting as an advisor to a group of Cadets from the Imperial Military College, found herself to be the sole person capable of assuming command of the Third Army Corps which was heavily engaged across a broad front of conflict. Although a civilian, her knowledge of military strategy and dedication to duty compelled her to accept the role, which she performed in an exemplary fashion until her relief on the twentieth day of the same month.

  “In recognition of her service and with respect to the size of the unit for which she served as Commander, the Imperial Senate has decreed that Professor Westridge be awarded a Reserve Commission of Major General in the Imperial Army.

  Preeeseeeeent Arms!”

  The entire student body snapped into a salute as General Galvin stepped around in front of her and bent over to attach her new rank to her collar. Then he too stepped back and saluted her.

  ###

  Back in her home at the end of the day, Addie sat in her chair in front of her mirror. Reaching up with her left hand, she caressed the pair of stars on each collar briefly, then gently returned her hand to her lap.

  It is then that the tears form in her eyes. Rolling down her face before dissolving into white sparks along with the rest of her as the Trial finally comes to a close.