“‘Operation Torchlight’, the month-long redeployment of termed ‘Torchlight’ units to reinforce the Gallian front has succeeded massively, with Federalist interdiction campaigns unable to blunt or block the combined Orlish, Lorathian, and Gallian Navies from transporting an estimated two corps worth of forces into Gallia. Torchlight is estimated to have transferred at least eighteen Orlish brigades, and twenty-eight Lorathian brigades into Gallia. With nearly three hundred thousand extra forces from the two Kingdoms reinforcing MN units already knee-deep in Gallia, the situation for the CFN’s offensive is turning harder and harder as each day passes.”

- Geopol Press

+++

Southeastern Orland

Weissholm City

“Psst,” William tapped Amelie’s shoulder as she slept on her seat. “Hey. Psst,” he kept trying. “We’re here. Oi, wake up. Why’d you even doze off? I told you we were close. Hey. Wake up. Ah…crap, this isn’t working.”

He sighed.

“Rimpler suffered a stroke!”

Immediately, Amelie’s eyes shot open, awakening to the good news.

“W-what,” she said, looking around, before settling on William's face. Immediately, she pulled his face close. “Say what now? Is it true? He’s dead?! Oh Goddess, I won at last!”

“Nope, I was just trying to get your attention,” William said, his expression empty as she stopped pulling both of his cheeks violently. “Good morning, Your Majesty. Enjoyed your thirty minutes of sleep?”

Amelie huffed.

“I’m the Queen, you know? Can you at least wake me up in a regal manner?”

“Ah, but telling you such sweet news about your mortal enemies counts as a very regal way to wake a monarch up, no?”

“It’s a lie, so nope, it’s not,” Amelie withdrew her hand from him, before covering her mouth with it as she yawned. “We’re at Weissholm now?”

“Yep,” William said, as he returned his eyes to the black SUVs of their security convoy, all of them still stuck in traffic. “We got caught in a bad traffic jam though. Since you don’t like us doing the normal routine of blasting our sirens with the police cars up front to move, well, we’re stuck until these damned trucks move. Oh there, we’re moving…”

William pressed his feet on the gas pedal, as they moved forward for a bit on the highway, and Amelie had the chance to look to her side to gawk at multiple M3 APCs driving on the road alongside the normal civilian traffic. Naturally, however, they immediately stopped in just a few seconds.

“Ah, well…yeah,” William laughed a bit. “It’s going to be a bit of a pain for a while. Rush hour and all.”

Amelie lightly yawned again.

“At least the city’s still operating with normal business,” Amelie said. “Seems to be that way with a lot of cities here, even if it’s closer to the front.”

“Your air defense scheme worked way too well,” William smiled a bit. “That’s for sure at least. You can pat yourself on the back now. Millions of Orlish civilians can rejoice at our great Queen’s sheer wisdom of prioritizing the defense of the motherland over the frontlines.”

“I hate how every time you praise me it also feels like you’re so sarcastic about it,” Amelie crossed her arms. “Pain…”

“Pfft, okay, to be fair, you did well on that front,” William said. “Were it to go the OAF’s way, they’d abandon defending areas not crucial to war production to shift those factories into producing more frontline units. But now, we have such a ridiculous surplus of SAM systems and interceptors that it’d be an insult if any major city thirty kilometers from the frontlines is hit by any missiles.”

“Heh, I knew it,” Amelie said. “I saw it well in Halia. Air defense is a priority!”

“But, well, if we didn’t have such a massive industry we wouldn’t have been able to do this,” William then laughed at her. “Have fun with paying for it all post-war too, Your Majesty.”

“Ugh, come on, I’d rather pay for thousands of redundant systems than pay for rebuilding our cities,” Amelie said. “I mean, Halia, Thein…even Vohler and Rebenslof to some extent, and I’d bet we’d also flatten much of North Central Orland soon if we want to win…rebuilding all that will take decades! I swear…I’d be an old hag before I can see our capital back to its former glory.”

She sulked on her seat for a bit, before looking at William, then to the still snoring Nia on their back seat.

“She’s still asleep?”

“You both seemed to have been tired by last night’s inspections,” William said. “Can’t blame you two, I guess.”

“What about you?” Amelie asked, noticing how sleepy his eyes were. “Now that I noticed it, you haven’t slept for two days already!”

“Meh, I took a few naps while you two snacked on those fancy restaurants.”

“I doubt we ever took more than an hour to eat,” Amelie said. “I order you to sleep first thing first when we arrive at our hotels. That should get you back into proper working order. I mean, the speech is at around 4 pm, right? Should be plenty of time for you to take a sleep.”

He gave her a mock salute.

“Roger…I’ll try sleeping. I guess.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Amelie crossed her arms.

“Well, I think your entire team needs sleep anyway. We’ve been on the move for multiple days straight. Everyone must be quite tired. I wonder how Lady Lubaine is doing…”

William finally yawned as well, clearly showing how sleepy he was.

“She’s probably still sleeping in her vehicle. I’ve been talking with her subordinate since like…three AM earlier instead.”

“I guess we really should have an extra guy here to switch whenever you can’t drive,” Amelie said, looking to her side. “But I don’t know a good pick yet.”

“It’s fine,” William said. “If you’re uncomfortable with dragging another dude to a car you’re in, I can deal with that.”

“You already have so many jobs under me,” Amelie pointed out.

“I’m fine,” William chuckled a bit. “I mean, I can contact my staff in Eutstadt here well enough while you guys sleep.”

“While driving and coordinating with the security convoy?”

“Pfft, come on, I assigned competent people in the OPM,” William said. “They know what they gotta do. All they do is give me updates and ask for my decisions on small issues. Ain’t too much of a big deal.”

“Still…”

“Come on, I’ve seen worse, trust me,” William said, smiling as he held the driving wheel. “Even back in the military, I’ve been the go-to guy for so many tasks. Heh, I even have some experience doing maintenance work on M3s, HMLVs, or M8s. Even when I became an officer, I’ve always been in the field doing that stuff regularly. It’s normal.”

“You just accept whatever work assigned to you, huh?”

“I guess,” William said, before grinning. “You pay well though, so I ain’t complaining. I think I can retire real good when the war’s over, even with the shite economy, no offense on that.”

Amelie felt herself slapped by that, so she could only muster a half-offended smile.

“I’ll fix that once the war’s over, okay? Gee…it’s still morning…”

Then again I get served with bad news before bed and after bed all the time anyway, Amelie thought to herself. So I guess it’s fine…

“Well, I appreciate your promises then, oh great Queen.”

“Shut up and just drive.”

William just laughed.

Their vehicle moved once again, with Amelie finally feeling better at the whole thing until the road stopped again.

Goddess…if I’m rebuilding those cities in my reign, I’ll prioritize this godforsaken traffic first. I got too used to Eutstadt’s well-organized city planning and public transport…

+++

“The…the war will be won, by you!” Amelie declared over the podium in front of the gathered military personnel and officers of the Army. The fact that she fumbled her words made a few men below her crack a smile, and even some snickers, but Amelie just looked away from the teleprompter with an awkward smile. “Okay, fine, this…this speech I placed here isn’t working for me.”

They just stared at her blankly after her admission, as Amelie gathered her breath.

“Look, as your Queen, I think it’s clear that you’re all thinking that I’m not really the most qualified person to tell you some nice stuff before you head there. I’ll be blunt, I’m sending you all to the other side of the world. I’m sending you, again, to a faraway land, for a faraway war, for a war you probably don’t see much reason to fight for.”

“That’s not true!” Someone shouted from the crowd. “You promised liberty and equality! We’re fighting for that!”

Amelie just chuckled.

“Yeah, I suppose I did!” Amelie said before her expression turned more serious. “And I stand by those words, until now. Listen, this…this service you’re doing isn’t being done any more for an exchange. I don’t care if you fight now or not, those aren’t promises I gave, or my government gave in exchange for your service. Everything, once this war ends, will change. Because that has always been my promise ever since I was crowned.

“The gendered taxes. The gendered welfare benefits. The problems with funding the societal well-being of our boys and men. Expanding democratic franchise for all…until, Goddess-willing, the point that my voice won’t matter anymore, is my goal. And the goal of the Heiss Government. Whether or not you served, those changes will come. In fact, the aim of my government is to abolish every institutional law that discriminates against you by the end of this year, regardless of wartime limitations.

“No, we’re not asking for your service because we want an exchange. We are asking you to fight the CFN because we know that you are the ones who can do it. Men, you are all good soldiers. You all fought in so many campaigns and wars…that, yes, you should have never fought, but you did regardless. And Orland, the Kingdom, needs soldiers. Capable soldiers. Which you all are—to fight for those things that we promised. I know our side isn’t the perfect one, but we all know how CFN forces are acting on the other side.

“They have brutalized both men and women. They have brutalized MN forces trying to surrender—your fellow men, all because ‘they collaborated with the Global Matriarchy’. That’s their ideology. You are either with them, or you’re a traitor to the great revolution worthy of being disposed of. I suppose it isn’t that far from what this Kingdom stood for before my reign, and I admit those crimes. I don’t want those crimes to be repeated, just reversed this time. That’s why, we call for you, capable men. Capable soldiers. People with the experience of wartime, to fight, even to the death, to defend our cause. Even if it’s not the most fair thing.

“Soon, you will be shipped off to Gallia as part of the IV OEF Corps. Under the 5th Orlish Army. Your goal isn’t an easy one. You are to defend the Kingdom of Gallia, our ally, from the endless tides of Larissan, Pozneki, Lombardian, and to a lesser extent, Asturian armor. They have already taken much of Northeastern Gallia, and are heading straight to the capital. But we are slowing them down. Stopping them. Blunting their attacks. Counterattacking. Hell, I’m sure many of you even received the news of our victory at Brecille…even if the city fell again yesterday when our forces withdrew in good order.

“The casualties in Gallia aren’t pretty. That’s why, you, of the Orlish Expeditionary Forces, are one of the best-equipped formations of Orland. That’s why we pulled you off the front months ago to be prepared. I have not allowed our Generals to do this operation half-assed. I have not allowed anyone to fail at supplying you with the necessary gear, food, fuel, ammunition, and what else. Equipment, supply, training, rest, and most importantly, experience and skill—I believe you have all of that.

“That’s why we are sending you there. You are the best that Orland can offer to fight many times your number. You are the best ones to ensure that the Mandate of Nations will triumph against the tyrannical takeover of the Confederacy in continental Vaeyox. And the Kingdom…looks, and cheers for you.

“So damn it! Screw the naysayers who say that you will fail in the defense of Gallia. Go take them! I know you will. Victory will be ours, and it will be because of you. Thank you very much, soldiers of Orland. Glory to you, our honorable heroes! I can’t promise you that you will all come back home, but…I promise that your service is something I and the Kingdom appreciate.

“And since I know many of you…lamentably, have no one who would say it to you…I’ll be taking on that role as your Queen.”

Her gaze softened, and so did her voice.

“Please, come back home safe, soldiers of Orland.”