Mobseka – The World of Otome Games Ain’t That Bad [Waifu Catalog]

I looked around the holotable at my command staff, Admiral Serena Fou Holz, Colonel Irisdina Fou Bernhard, and Captain Beatrix Fou Bremhe. "What's the current state of our operations?" I asked the far more competent individuals around me.

Serena was the first to speak up. "Currently we have bases operational in the territory of eleven noble houses, excluding our own of course. Construction has begun on the base in the Dontread barony; however, it won't be operational for another two weeks."

I nod my head. "Two weeks? That's not too shabby. What about our infrastructure uplift?"

Serena tapped on her holographic wrist computer, before flicking a map onto the holotable for us all to see. "Currently only the territories of houses Bartfort, Durland, and Fallon have finished their infrastructure overhauls. Houses Doven, Arkin, Weyland, and Gunther are being overhauled as we speak. Sadly, due to one of the factory ships being used to retrofit captured equipment, we only have four factory ships free to work on infrastructure. This means houses Lamar, Hattorn, and Kolander have to settle for a temporary outpost for the time being."

I frowned. " If only we could build more factory ships right away, it would solve many of our issues."

"We all agreed that having Luxion focus his efforts on restoration of the shipyard is the best move for now." Irisdina interjected.

"I know, but now we've got three noble houses who let us setup outposts on their territory and recruit from their territory with little to show for it. I'm just worried how the delays are going to look to other potential partners."

Serena smiled. "There is nothing to be done for now, but wait for the ships to become available. Though I am glad to see you thinking about the deeper impacts of decisions made, it shows how far you've come from the naïve boy who summoned us."

"Aw geez, you're gonna make me blush." I said while fanning myself like some posh noblewoman.

Serena rolled her eyes in mock irritation. "Regardless, the territory's of houses Lamar, Hathorn, and Kolander outposts each have a squad of knight armors to help protect the territories. Additionally, a number of agricultural drones have been deployed to each house's territory, so none can say that they are not benefiting from our arrangement."

Irisdina nodded. "They also are less likely to be attacked just due to our reputation as pirate hunters."

"True, true. What's the status of our fleet?"

Irisdina pressed a button, which highlighted a number of tiny ships on the map.

"Since we are only rebuilding captured vessels for deniability sake, we currently maintain a mere seventeen destroyer class, six light cruiser class, one heavy cruiser class, as well as the five factory ships. Obviously, this does not include the Imperious Splendor."

Our combat vessels are rebuilds of captured pirate vessels, with most lengthened or shortened to make them more or less the same classes. Destroyers are 75m long, light cruisers are 125m long, and heavy cruisers are 175m long. Destroyers are estimated to be roughly worth three modern cruisers in combat, light cruisers worth six, and heavy cruisers ten.

"So our forces are roughly comparable to ninety-seven modern cruisers?"

Serena nodded. "This is correct; however, we are not sure how accurate this estimate will be when faced with the most advanced ships from the Principality, or the Empire for that matter."

"By flying in reverse, our ships will be able to engage the enemy from outside their effective range almost indefinitely." Beatrix added with with a wolfish grin.

Irisdina looked a little down. I put my hand on her shoulder. "You ok?"

She gave me a pained smile. "Just thinking about how many comrades could've survived had we that kind of advantage."

She wasn't wrong; after all, in her world, the BETA laser strain could snipe a TSF at ridiculous ranges. Pilots were forced to fly low, right into the waiting claws of tank and grappler strains.

"Don't worry Iris, in the future we can get revenge on the BETA, together." I gave her my most reassuring smile. She smiled sweetly, and grabbed my hand. "Yeah, together."

Serena loudly cleared her throat. "Not to ruin your passionate moment, but may we continue the meeting."

I refocused on the holotable. "You're right. What's the status of our armor forces?"

She tapped, and a new hologram info page popped up.

"Our total armor forces number one hundred and thirteen armor, minus you of course. Forty-four are currently stationed at our allied territories, leaving sixty-nine available for deployment."

"And how they stack up to conventional armor forces?" I asked Iris, as she was in charge of armor pilots, while Serena's in charge of the warships and conventional ground forces.

"They should be able to engage rough one-and-a-half times their own number with a high chance of success."

I looked at her quizzically. "I thought that between the higher quality structural components, 100% pure tertium mana veins, the improved optics, foam metal armor, the wireless communication, improved propulsion system, and the basic assault cannons, our armor were supposed to be able to engage two-and-a-half times their numbers and win. Why the low evaluation?"

She shrugged. "The machines are capable of that, but the pilots aren't. Many of the pilots are veterans who lost limbs in action. A good number of them are having a hard time properly channeling their magic power through the prosthetics, hampering their piloting. Those who don't have prosthetics are generally new recruits who showed promise in the simpods. They're doing well, but their still green."

I frowned. "I suppose that makes sense. So is there anything we can do about it?"

She shook her head no. "All we can do is give them time."

Beatrix smirked. "Well the general pilots might be lacking, the Werewolf battalion is more than capable of picking up the slack. I'd throw my boys against three times their number anyday."

I looked at her skeptically. "Really?"

She gave me a wolfish grin. "Of course darling. I hand-picked and trained them myself."

I nodded. "Even if there as good as you say, not that I'm questioning your capabilities, but the Werewolf Battalion has only eleven pilots, a third of a battalion. That only adds thirty-three to our battle math. In total we have the equivalent of ninety-seven modern warships; as well as, roughly one hundred and thirty-six modern knight armor. Hmmm. We might have enough."

Serena quirked an eyebrow. "Enough for what exactly?"

I met her gaze. "To destroy house Offley."

I enjoyed watching Serena's eyes wide, even if it was slight.

"House Offley maintains a fleet of sixty-five vessels and just under a hundred and fifty knight armors. We could do it, but it'll be costly" Irisdina said.

"Not to mention it would most likely turn the royal family hostile, and give all the justification they need to attempt to subjugate the Legion as well as our allied noble houses." Serena added.

Beatrix giggling like a goblin. "They could try, but who has the space warship with the ability to build nuclear weapons?"

I walked over a booped her on the nose. "Bad Beatrix, we are trying to work with the kingdom, not rule over their ashes. Anyway, it won't come to that anyway because I have a plan "

It was Serena's turn to look skeptical. "And what would this plan of yours be?"

I smiled. "We'll just take some notes from the Marie Route. We'll be recruiting some back up from houses Roseblade and Redgrave... well you two will be anyway." I pointed to Iris and Serena.

Serena smiled. "Now that could work."

---

POV Irisdina

A week after planning the downfall of house Offley, Irisdina "Fou" Bernhard found herself carrying evidence of their treason, heading towards the territory of house Roseblade. Being bitter rivals of house Offley, they were the most obvious choice for support in the operation. The fact that they are both politically neutral and have a good reputation amongst the mobility, only improve their strategic value.

As she was heading towards the territory of house Roseblade, so too was Serena heading to the territory of house Redgrave, the most powerful noble family in the kingdom, for the same reason.

While they collect allies, their husband Leon was hunting down the Winged Sharks pirate fleet. Being directly supported by house Offley, the Winged Sharks are the most powerful pirate fleet in the kingdom, and is the Offleys' biggest weakness.

After mooring the light cruiser Köln at the public dock, Irisdina took a Razorback down to Roseville City proper. As the capital of the Roseblade county, it was a bustling metropolis that look like something out of a Victorian era painting, though with more colors and far more attractive people. As she walked towards the Roseblade estate, she noticed that there were a fair amount of genuine smiles and few if any homeless. 'It appears that these Roseblades good reputation is mostly likely well earned,' she thought with a light smile gracing her lips which caused a few young men to trip over themselves upon seeing it.

A second Razorback delivered an up armored six wheel truck, resembling a Mercedes-Benz G wagon. A member of her security detail opened the rear driver door before ushering her inside. She found the interior to be a tasteful blend of luxury materials and practical features. The soft leather seats were a shade of gray that was capable of hiding most stains, the interior lighting that allowed one to read without straining their eyes, and a popout hardwood tray that could support a laptop or a meal.

"Let's go." She said to the driver, ready to get this meeting over with.

The driver nodded before slowly moving down one of the city's main roads that lead toward the Count's Estate. She was impressed with just how much smoother of a ride this vehicle offered when compared with the old GAZ 69 she used to drive in her old NVA days back in East Germany. Around thirty minutes later, she was roused from her thoughts by the driver.

"Ma'am, we are approaching the estate."

She looked out the windshield, catching sight of a pristine brass fence, inlaid with gold and silver. Behind the fence laid a massive white and blue mansion, with a large blue rose, the emblem of house Roseblade, adorning the mansion. Her false memories told her that she's been here thrice before with her now dead family.

As they pulled up to the gate, they were stopped by a platoon of Roseblade guards, backed up with a pair of grey and blue knight armors.

Irisdina heard the driver tell the guards their identity and purpose. It took some time, but after mentioning they had important information regarding house Offley, the guards relented and opened the gate for them. As they approached the manor, they were met by a smaller contingent of guards escorting a middle-aged man in a pristine tuxedo.

Stopping in front of the manor, Irisdina left the vehicle, her security detail following suite. She walked up to the well-dressed man who Luxion noted as being the head butler of the Roseblade family.

"Greetings guests. I am Sheffield, head butler of the Roseblade family. He said with an elegant bow. "Might I ask the reason for your visit?"

Irisdina did a slight bow in return. "I am colonel Irisdina Fou Bernhard of the Ironblood Legion. I do apologize for the uninvited intrusion, but it was of great importance. We wish to meet with the count at his earliest convenience."

Mr. Sheffield put on a fake apologetic face with an ease that spoke of much practice. "I'm afraid that my Lord will be very busy for sometime."

'What a load of Schisse,' though Irisdina.

"Perhaps I could pass on a message to him for you?"

Irisdina smirked on the inside. "Yes. If could please inform his grace-"

---

POV Lord Roseblade

"that we currently posses enough evidence of house Offley's treachery to have them stripped of their title and holdings, if handled correctly."

Lord Roseblade stared his butler, and long time friend Sheffield, dead in the eye. "Did she say anything else to you?"

Sheffield frowned. "Only that they will be staying at the Golden Villa for the next three days."

'She's quite bold, claiming to have such information on our most hated rivals, only the give me just enough time to reach out, but not enough to have my people look into it.' He looked up at his butler. "Sheffield, I feel like I've heard her name before."

Sheffield nodded. "Yes master. Dame Bernhard was the only daughter of baron Graham Fou Bernhard. She attended several events held here at the estate in her early years."

The image of a jolly blonde man carrying an adorable young girl on his shoulders crossed the Earl's mind. 'So she's his child... interesting.'

"Send some one to escort them here tomorrow."

"As you wish master." With a bow, he left the Early alone with the his thoughts.

'Either it's a waste of time and I extract a favor from the Legion for wasting my time, or it's real I can remove that blight from the kingdom. It will beneficially either way. I can't wait to see how you've grown, Irisdina.'

---

POV Vince Rapha Redgrave

Serena Fou Holz was the second daughter of his cousin Lucille, and a shining example of what a noble should be. Serena graduated a year early from the academy as the valedictorian, before deciding to joining the royal army, rather than become a wastral like so many of her peers. She managed to rise to the rank of captain in an unbelievably short time of just three years becoming the youngest captain in recent memory. She would leave the army two years later due to her distaste with the army's intentional neglect of the border territories.

After disappearing for a few months, she has now reappeared as one of the leaders of the most powerful mercenary unit in the kingdom, the Ironblood Legion. Just yesterday, Vince was informed that she came to see him as an emissary of said mercenary unit, claiming to have evidence of house Offley's treason against the kingdom.

"You do understand the magnitude of your accusation? Accusing an Earl's household, even one as despised as the Offleys, could possibly see your organization banished or worse if you lack the evidence to support your claim."

Despite the serious of her situation, the young lady showed no sign of distress. She simply tapped on her wrist and an illusion of Earl Offley giving pirates Fanoss-built knight armor appeared before me.

"This was one of many recordings taken by one off our agents, that show house Offley has been supporting a number of major pirate fleet within the country. Now I wouldn't ask you to help us with just this, which is why, I brought these." She opened a briefcase she brought with her, turned it around, and pushed it towards the duke. Inside were a number of letters with traitorous instructions, written to several prominent pirate captains. Vince read through one after another, being more disgusted by the Earl after each letter.

After reading the last of the letters, he looked back to Serena Holz. "While this evidence is sufficient to warrant an investigation, it is not enough to have them stripped of their title or wealth in of itself."

She shrugged. "Ironblood forces are currently on their way to apprehend the pirates linked to house Offley. I trust that their testimony will be sufficient?"

Vince Rapha Redgrave chuckled at the thought of the downfall of house Offley. "I believe it will be. I'll have a task force prepared at once."

Serena gave a predatory smile. "I'm glad that we can see eye-to-eye on this matter. The commander will be pleased."

---

POV "Commodore" Heath Vargr

Grabbing a bottle of rum from his personal stash, Heath Vargr thought that life was pretty damn good. As the "Commodore" of the Winged Sharks pirate fleet, he had all the food, alcohol, and sex he could want, what could be better?! 'Now if only I hadn't let that army bastard take my eye, that would be better,' thought Heath.

As he made his way to the bridge, whistling a tune to himself all the while, he began to speed up when noticed a few crewmen running in distress.

Upon reaching the bridge he saw his first mate, Dudley, yelling at their helmsman.

"What'da mean we can't lose em?! Our ships are the fastest in the kingdom, and we know these skies like no one else!"

Heath's face turned serious as he turned to Dudley. "Dudley! What in the blaze is going on?"

His first flinched before standing up from the Captain's chair. "Oh boss, I didn't realize you were here, my bad. Some blokes are on our tail."

"How many?"

"Ten ships boss, an they be quick ones!"

'What and idiot, if we wasn't so loyal, I'dve replaced him long ago.' "Just ten ships are pursuing us, and you all are runnin about like skies falling or some shit. Calm down. They got ten, we got ten."

Dudley nodded to himself before taking a deep breath. "Your right boss, they'd need at least twenty ships to take us out!"

Heath turned to the speaker operator. "Tell the other ships to get ready to fight. We're gonna show the bastards who rules these skies. Have most of our armors board the Bloody Jane, Ripperclaw, and the Widower. Have those ships fake a engine fire, and then slow down. Our brave pursuers will see easy targets, only to be swarmed by armors before our main force swings back and hits em where it hurts."

The others pirates looked at each other, gave some blood thirsty smiles, then they got to work. The ships external loudspeaker bellowed orders, followed by three dozen armors making their way inside the cargo bay of the three bait ships. A few minutes later, three piles of smoke rose from the "damaged" vessels.

As the pursuing vessels gained on the Bloody Jane, Ripperclaw, and the Widower, Heath smiled. 'Those bastards won't know what hit em!'

The pursuing ships fired their guns at the three ships, causing their shields to flare to life. Heath was waiting for the pursuers to be ambushed, when the pursuers fire again and again. Within twelve seconds, three salvos shattered the pirate ships shields and struck true against their hulls.

"What the fuck is this shit!!!" Shouted Heath, causing the rest of the crew to stare at him. 'Three salvos in less than fifteen seconds! Who the hell are these guys?!' Using a telescope, he scanned the enemy airships, barely catching sight of an ornate red cross on a black flag. 'Ain't that the Ironblood Legion? So this is how they got so prominent, bastards had advanced tech!'

Heath yelled at his helmsman. "Get us out of here! NOW!!!"

The helmsman glanced back, a worried look on his face. "But boss, what about the bait ships? They be counting on us for support!"

He grit his teeth in frustration. "The Bloody Jane, Ripperclaw, and Widower are doomed already. We have to escape while we can!"

The helmsman shoulder sank, before he cranked the wheel port side, turning the ship away from the battle.

As they flew away from the doomed ships, Heath relaxed just a bit. 'Those bastards will surely take the time to secure those three before coming after us. Good luck trying to track us down in these skies!'

He was broken from his thoughts by a call out from the watchman on the crow's nest.

"Boss! Nine ships are still following us!"

"What?! They should've left at least three vessels back to secure those ships!"

"Boss, their gaining on us!"

Heath thought through various plans to escape, but ultimately came up empty handed. Deciding to risk it all, he order all remaining armors to prepare for an attack on the hostile fleets largest vessel, assuming it to be the flagship. Heath ran to his personal armor, Deborah, named after his bitch of an ex-wife. Clad in thick layers of a new metal alloy, and equipped with a new box magazine fed pump-action rifle, it was the bleeding edge of armors to come out of the Principality of Fanoss's war factories, given to him by Earl Offley as a trump card.

He flew out of the hanger like a bat outta hell, ready to take revenge on those mercenary bastards! He was joined by the fleet's remaining seventeen armors pilots, all cruising towards the presumed flagship, a big grey triangular sonuvabitch that was staying towards the back of the enemy fleet.

As they approached, the enemy armors stayed at a range, firing at them from a safe distance. Heath felt as though luck was on his side, the enemy commander was so arrogant that he chose to keep his armor pilot's safe rather than stopping Heath and his men. It was a mistake he was going to make them regret, after all, nobody messes with the Winged Sharks!

When they reached a point double the range of their rifles, the triangular ship unleash hell upon his men. Streams of glowing bullets flew from at least a dozen guns at an impossible rate, tearing his men apart along with their machines. By the time he reached the enemy vessel, Heath found himself all alone, assuming that his superior skill and armor allowed him to avoid destruction at the hands of the demon ships hateful guns. As he was about the begin extracting sweet vengeance, a green armor flew from the ship's hanger bay. The armor looked was carrying a large arsenal of weapons, but was far to bulky to keep up with his customized machine, or at least it shouldn't have been able to.

He flew to meet this new threat, dodging round after round, all the while returning fire with his own rifle. The large vessel's guns didn't fire on him, which made him realize that his opponent must've been the enemy commander, hoping to gain the glory of killing him. They danced across the sky, filling the space between with armor piercing shells. 

When he realized that his opponent was just toying with him Heath screamed into his machine speakers. "I'll kill ya, ya piece of shit! Do you have any idea who I am?! I am Heath-"

His opponent rudely interrupted him mid sentence. "I don't care, this fight is over." Then he pointed the tip of his shield at him, revealing a large barrel underneath. The cannon roared, sending a large round his way. Heath dodged with ease, at least he thought he did, but then it exploded right next to him, throwing him of balance. His opponent fired three rounds from his rifle, that shredded the head and legs of Heath's armor, causing him to fall onto the deck of the triangular ship below.

"Fuck! Fuck! Shit!!!" He screamed, the anger at being toyed with from the beginning boiling over.

He only stopped when he heard his armor's chest plate groan before being pried opened. The first thing he saw was a green helmet with a gold visor, the second was floating metal orb with an ominous red eye. Heath reached for his pistol, but then the third, and final, thing he saw was a massive armored fist heading straight for his jaw. 

---

AN: And that's chapter eight! I don't have to much to say about this one, other than I cut a lot of techno babble when it came to the ships, as that wasn't to well received last time I did that. Also, having a full hour lunch break does wonders for my writing, so I should able to release a chapter every 2-3 weeks, instead of once a month!

I hope you all had a merry Christmas, and I wish you all a fantastic New Year!