Sgt. Golem: Royal Mech Hussar - Stubs Soon!

Angelica drummed her fingers impatiently against her side. Ambassador Mazur shot her a quick, dry look. "Don't worry," he said. "It's normal for us to be kept waiting. All part of the game, you know. Have you been involved in diplomatic affairs before?"

"No," Angelica said, and left it at that.

She and Hannah were as neatly turned out as they could be. They had lost their dress uniforms when their carrier went down outside Rzeszow, but they had both washed and pressed their ordinary uniforms and taken turns helping each other with their hair. The ambassador ought to have a more impressive escort—adjutants and high-ranking military men—but he'd have to make do with the two of them.

As commissioned Hussar officers and bonded mech drivers, both Angelica and Hannah had station to go along with their rank. Any woman who could bond a mech was automatically elevated to at least the lower ranks of the nobility. Angelica had the title of Baroness of Chorzele, a tiny village on the Orzyc River she'd never even visited.

The trio waited in a small parlor in the Budapest Parliament building. They had arrived at ten, which was, Angelica checked the clock on the mantle, nearly thirty minutes ago now.

At last, a palace servant, neat in the Hungarian royal colors, appeared. He bowed. "Would you come with me, please, Your Excellency?"

Ambassador Mazur smiled politely. "Come, ladies, time for a word with the regent."

They followed the servant through marble halls and up a long, curving flight of stairs, dressed in a red carpet, to the second floor of the palace. Tall windows let in sunlight. Angelica found herself a little overwhelmed by their surroundings. She'd never seen so much polished wood and marble in one place in her life.

The servant escorted them to a pair of carved wooden doors, bowed again, then opened the door and stood back to admit them. The ambassador sailed in, Angelica and Hannah trailing after him.

Angelica's heart was in her throat. She just had to stand here and look official while Ambassador Mazur did all the talking. Surely.

The room was a long, elegant drawing room with four long couches arranged in a C shape. More tall windows filled the room with light. One whole wall was lined with bookshelves, the spines resplendent in red, gold, and green. Little tables covered in vases and knick-knacks dotted the room.

Three men and a woman looked up from the couches as the envoy entered the room. Ambassador Mazur strode over. He bowed before one of the men, a middle-aged aristocrat with a pointed, graying beard and curling mustaches. "Your Highness," he said.

That must be the regent. The man seated at the regent's left rose and bowed. He had a thin, pale face and did not look Hungarian to Angelica. In fact, he looked Russian. When he spoke, his accent removed any doubt. "Thank you for your time, Your Highness. The Tsar will be very pleased with the progress we have made today."

The man turned and bowed to Ambassador Mazur.

"Ambassador," Ambassador Mazur responded gravely, returning a head bow.

The Russian ambassador left the room, nearly brushing Angelica with his arm as he passed her. There was no need to have crowded so close. He was clearly making a statement.

The regent of Hungary smiled graciously at the ambassador. "Won't you take a seat, Your Excellency?" He gestured to the place where the Russian had just been.

Ambassador Mazur took two steps to the left and sat on an undisturbed cushion. Angelica glanced at Hannah, who gave a tiny shake of her head. She wasn't sure what they should do either.

The woman seated on the sofas beckoned to them. "Officers, would you join me?"

Ambassador Mazur cleared his throat. "Thank you. Allow me to introduce Lieutenant Angelica Dolniak and Lieutenant Hannah Romik. Lieutenant Dolniak is the heroine of Rzeszow. I'm certain word has reached you by now of the treacherous invasion of our country by Russians. Quite against the current terms, the city was destroyed. Without Lieutenant Dolniak's intervention, there would have been far greater loss of life. She rallied what remained of our defenders and made a fighting retreat, turning the tide on her pursuers and winning quite a victory at Fortress Dukla, on your own borders."

"Indeed," the woman said. She rose. "I am Countess Veronica Diennes. And I too have a mech bond and have been honored to assist in protecting my people from our enemies." She was young, certainly in her early twenties if not younger.

Angelica and Hannah sat beside the Countess, one at her right, one on her left. Angelica noted the family resemblance between the Countess and the Regent. He was certainly old enough to be her father. Women capable of commanding mechs were more common in royal families, even among the bastards of a royal line. Certainly, any royal bastard who was shown to be capable of that magic would be elevated to a high position. Angelica couldn't remember enough of Hungary's history to say when the Regent had married and whether his wife had any legitimate children. But she didn't think she'd heard of a Hungarian princess who had proven to be a mech user.

On a second glance, Veronica was younger than Angelica had first thought. Her hair was curled and pinned up to her head, and she wore heavy makeup, making her look older. Angelica thought she might not even be in her twenties.

"Now," the Regent said, turning to Ambassador Mazur, "what can I do for you?"

"Your Highness, I am merely here to see that the terms of our alliance with Hungary are carried out to the satisfaction of all parties," he said. He opened his attaché case and produced a sheaf of papers. "These are observations from our spies along the border of Russian movements. We are concerned that they are planning an assault into Hungary similar to the one they conducted across our borders."

The Regent looked at the papers but made no move to take them. "My own watchers have not reported this.”

“Much of the movement is being done farther to the north, but we are convinced that their aim is Hungary, not Poland."

"And what is it that you think the Russians mean to accomplish?" the Regent asked.

“Opening another front,” Ambassador Mazur said.

"I have been speaking with the Russian Ambassador quite closely for the past few weeks. He is urging me to sign declarations of mutual non-aggression against Russia. This sort of move would undermine all of his work."

"Yes, Your Highness," Ambassador Mazur said stiffly, "it would. I believe that the Russians are using diplomacy as a feint to keep you off your guard for their inevitable invasion. As to what they want," he shrugged fluidly, "what do the Russians ever want except that which is ours?"

The third man banged his knee and leaned forward. "Exactly," he said. "The Russians see all of us as upstart rebels on their border to be crushed and brought down to become serfs like theirs. But I tell you, the sons of Attila will never be serfs to the Tsar."

"General Farkas,” Countess Veronica broke in. "While I share your apprehension of Russia and your belief in our people's indomitable will, my father's no fool. He has not been taken in by the Russian Ambassador."

"Your Highness, I urge you to coordinate with our troops," Ambassador Mazur said. "Together we can repel any attack that comes and perhaps turn the tide on the Russians. Should they overextend into Hungary, a force of Polish soldiers will be sent to the region. Under the terms of our agreement-“

“Yes, yes, I know," the Regent said. "The agreement says we will assist in matters of common defense, IF we can do so without compromising our own security."

"Your highness, we are allies against the Russians," Mazur said. "Only with a united show of force do we have any chance of opposing them, especially with the Red Widow at hand."

The three Hungarians stiffened.

"The Red Widow," Veronica breathed. "Is it possible?"

General Farkas leaned forward. “We heard her regiment was in the Caucus fighting the Otomans.”

The Ambassador indicated Angelica. "Lieutenant Dolniak has seen her just a few days ago."

“She was behind the destruction of Rzeszow," Angelica said. "I fought her myself."

"And you lived to tell of it." Veronica clasped her hands together, her eyes widening. "How was it? Was she as terrifying as they say? Is her Venom truly twice as large as a regular charger?"

"No, not quite," Angelica said. “She had an overwhelming presence, yes, but between myself and Hannah, we were able to fight her off and cover our retreat.”

"Against the Widow, that counts as a win," Veronica said. She turned to the Regent. "Father, I must hear more of this fight from the woman who went toe to toe with the Widow."

He waved. "Yes, yes, of course."

"There's a ball two nights from now," Veronica said to Angelica and Hannah. "All of our mech Hussars will be there, of course. You must come, both of you." She hesitated. "Are any others of your unit here?"

"Our unit was destroyed at Rezkow," Angelica said, "but we have brought in two new recruits since."

"Then they must come as well."

Angelica knew part of the job of a Hussar was to attend fancy balls and be decorative and politically useful, but she had only ever had to attend regimental balls herself. Hannah's eyes were wide with terror. She gave a tiny shake of her head and mouthed No.

"Of course, all of our pilots will be delighted to attend," Ambassador Mazur said.

"Ambassador," Angelica said desperately, "we have nothing to wear."

"I shall take care of that," Veronica declared grandly. She stood up, her skirts falling in delicate folds to the floor. "Father, please?"

Her father gave a fond smile. "Yes, of course. Have the bill sent to the royal palace."

Veronica clasped her hands and turned to Angelica. "Then it's decided. Tomorrow morning, you and your girls are coming shopping with me. We may not be Paris or even Vienna, but I dare say we can outfit you properly for a royal ball."

***

When we got back to the hauler, Colonel Mazur called everyone up to the driver's room. There were few good places where a group of officers could gather for a proper briefing. The lounge was typically full of soldiers, and the hangar bay was a bit of a mess.

I settled in the driver's seat. As the biggest person there, that freed up a lot of space. Hannah sat at the radio operator's desk, and Eva was sitting on the desk itself. Angelica, Tamara, Alexander, and Colonel Mazur all crowded around, leaving the room packed like a can of sardines.

Colonel Mazur took charge immediately and gave us a summary of their visit. After a long wait, they had seen the Regent of Hungary and were told they could offer no help to Poland. Eva gasped at this, and Tamara raised an eyebrow.

"Are they breaking the treaty?" Alexander asked.

Mazur held up a hand to stave off questions.

“The Regent gave us the run around, but I talked to his chief of staff General Farkas afterward, and he gave me the real story. Their reconnaissance has spotted a number of Russian formations on the Romanian side of the border. They're scrambling as many units as they can spare to reinforce the passes, and they're holding their Mech Hussars in reserve.”

I whistled low. "Does Russia have that many divisions to spare?"

Colonel Mazur shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not, but they don't need to actually invade. They only need to keep the Hungarians worried, to keep them from sending reserves over the mountains."

That made sense. They could put that kind of pressure on with just a couple of divisions, even if it would take much more than that to actually invade.

"So that's it. We go home empty-handed."

Colonel Mazur shook his head. "They've invited us to stay for their Hussar ball."

"Ooooh," Tamara said. "I've heard of that." Even Hannah cracked a smile.

I raised an eyebrow. Alexander saw my questioning look and filled in.

"The Hungarian Hussars’ ball is well known. We have something similar in Poland. They do it every year in commemoration of the revolution. All Hussars and former Hussars are invited, and their guests, of course."

The United States Marine Corps did something similar with a fancy ball every year in Washington. Since these Hussar girls were mostly nobility, it made sense they would look for an excuse to have a fancy party. "So, they're going then?"

“Me too?” Eva demanded from where she sat atop the radio desk.

Tamara gasped and put a hand to her mouth. "Oh, but I have nothing to wear!"

The Colonel smiled indulgently.

"They've thought of that. They're sending a car around in the morning to take you around the shopping district. Along with one of their own Hussars as an escort."

"Ooooh," said Tamara. Her grin got even wider. "I don't suppose Hungary is paying."

"As a matter of fact, the regent did say he would provide a line of credit."

Tamara rubbed her hands together and her smile turned evil.

"I've never been to a ball," Eva said.

Tamara shrugged. "Me neither, but it sounds like fun."

Angelica was frowning. "We shouldn't be wasting time. We should be heading back over the Carpathians for home."

Ambassador Mazur shook his head. "As of now, I'm reactivating myself as colonel in the army and putting this entire unit under my command."

Everyone's heads snapped around and their eyes got wide. He continued. "I have orders that we are to curry favor with the Hungarians at all costs. Four Hussars might not make a difference over there right now, but fifty Hussars on air cruisers certainly would."

Angelica’s eyes narrowed. “Ambassador? Did you get the impression that Russian ambassador is up to something? When we saw him today, he had almost a guilty look, I think.”

"I don't know yet. But for now, I want everyone here to keep their eyes and ears open. I suspect there's more going on here than we know. If you see anything or hear anything suspicious, you need to bring it to me immediately."

"There was something," I said, rubbing my chin. I didn't really want to talk about it. I didn't want everyone in this room to know I had an Achilles heel. Would they ever trust me again, knowing something was in my head that I couldn't explain?

Then again there were a lot of things in my head that I couldn't explain, and they had been okay with them so far. And I couldn’t not report a potential security leak like that.

So I told them all about my visit to the interrogation room at the Capitol, about the strange little man with his code phrases and the compulsions they had given me. “I had no problem resisting the urge, but I thought I should play along. I gave them a summary of our trip over the pass and a high-level sketch of our unit.”

Hannah gasped and put a hand to her mouth, but Alexander was nodding his head. "That’s no more than they could get through other means. That shouldn't be a problem."

The colonel nodded. "You made the right choice, but you didn't tell him anything else about..." He gestured towards Eva.

"No, I didn't say anything about her, or Tamara for that matter. I just said we were a wing of four Hussars and had had a few skirmishes on the way over the pass."

"Good. If you see him again, let me know. He's probably Hungarian secret police. Is that all?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so. The rest of the time was just a lot of waiting around. And me getting my ass kicked by some Hungarian golems. How come they know how to land a punch and I don’t? You guys loaded all the wrong crap into my head."

They ignored me. Mazur turned to the girls. "Now about the ball; you can each bring a companion. Normally you would invite your own, but under the circumstance…” he trailed off.

"I'm taking Sergeant Golem," Eva piped up at once.

Everyone stared at her, and she blushed. There was an awkward pause, but Mazur nodded. "That's fine. I definitely want him there. We'll have to see about finding him a rather large tuxedo. Angelica, if you don't mind, I would like to escort you."

She nodded. "Yes, sir."

"If one of you ladies would be so kind as to invite Warrant Alexander, I would appreciate his insights."

Hannah was blushing. "Ah, yes, I guess you can come with me."

Everyone looked to Tamara. “You don’t have an assignment for me?”

The colonel was frowning. “No.”

She tilted her chin up. “Good. I’ll find my own.”

“All right, but you don’t have a lot of time. But first, we are relocating. They are going to give us quarters on the army post just outside the city. The police will give us an escort. Apparently, they would rather we don’t drive this monstrosity through the city on our own."