Lieutenant The Honourable William Howard RHGD
Richardson Garrison, Anchorage County
The Duchy of Alaska, The Empire of Apilonia
Thursday 3rd September 2015, 0700hrs Local Time (0700hrs Imperial Capital Time, 1600hrs Zulu Time)
Richardson Garrison, the sprawling Imperial Army garrison located just to the north of Anchorage City, was bustling with activity even at such an early hour; mainly because the activity had not really stopped all night. All over the Garrison men and equipment were being moved from the armouries and stores to muster points, vehicles of many types were being given maintenance checks before being driven the short distance down the road to IAF Elmendorf to be loaded onto transport aircraft for transport to IAF Gibraltar and the Imperial staging point just over the border in Andalusia. That was the plan anyway, at the moment only in its earliest stages. It would take some days for the entirety of the 1st Armoured Division, the unit that had been selected to spearhead the Imperial ground forces, to mobilise and deploy; the Division had been one that had been on stand-by for deployment, but it would still take nearly two weeks to get everything in place and combat-ready. The Empire maintained a number of Divisions on short-notice standby for activation, both to provide heavy forces for defensive actions but also for overseas operations, the 1st Armoured and those that would be joining it in Spain, was one of those Divisions.
Given the hour, and the chilly breeze coming of the Cook Inlet (Anchorage having limited impact upon the temperature of the airflow as the Central Business District (and thus the urban heat island it produced) was more to the west, Lieutenant The Honourable William Howard, eldest son and heir of Baron Howard of Catalla, was grateful for his thick uniform Greatcoat as he watched his platoon hard at work checking all their personal equipment and weapons. At this stage in the activation process the soldiers themselves were tasked with ensuring they had everything they needed, and requisitioning anything they did not, before preparing for deployment; the idea was to get the troops on the ground ASAP with their vehicles following afterwards. As such Lieutenant Howard’s principle role was to sign off any and all requisition forms that his soldiers placed onto his desk, which meant that every few minutes he had to put aside his other preparatory work to go outside and make sure the soldiers weren’t being daft. In some units the officer would have been outside with his men doing the same and generally getting cold, however in the Regiments of the Household Cavalry the distinction between officer and enlisted was still very marked, and encouraged by both the officers and enlisted.
Born into the aristocracy, as he had been when William Howard had made the decision to join the Imperial Army, with the approval of his father who had likewise served, his choice of Regiments was heavily restricted. In theory, he could have applied to join any Regiment in the Army, in practice however, his options had been limited by his birth and his family to either the Household Cavalry or the Foot Guards. It was comparatively rare for scions of the nobility to serve in other parts of the Imperial Army, although not unheard of. Given his father’s own service William had elected to apply for the same Regiment, and given those same connections he had been readily accepted into the Blues and Royals, or the Royal Horse Guards and Dragoons as it was properly known (the Blues and Royals being the only regiment in the Imperial Army known officially by their nickname rather than their full title). He had attended the Imperial Military Academy in 2013 and commissioning into the Blues and Royals as a Cornet at the end of that year before attending the Infantry Battle School (North) at Denali to take the Platoon Commander’s Course, earning the standard promotion to Lieutenant as a result.
The Blues and Royals, and their sister Regiment, the Life Guards, were best known to the Empire at large for their ceremonial role, exemplified by the annual King’s Birthday Parade in June, or as it was better known Trooping the Colour, as well as various other state occasions. What some Imperial Citizens, and many foreigners, didn’t realise that only a small proportion of the Household Cavalry were on ceremonial duty at any given time. The rest of the two Regiments provided battalions for various brigades and divisions, just like any other in the Imperial Army. At present the Household Cavalry served in the Formation Reconnaissance role, providing fast-moving reconnaissance assets for an entire brigade, a very fitting usage given their cavalry nature, specifically the Household Cavalry provided battalions for the spearhead armoured divisions. The twenty armoured divisions operated by the Imperial Army were, broadly, split into two types, the line division and the spearhead division; technically there was no difference between the two, they all operated the same equipment with the same training, but the spearhead divisions were used as their name might suggest at the very front of an assault. Armoured divisions were already at the point of the spear in any advance, but the spearhead divisions were often the first units across the border into enemy territory.
As such they were far more prestigious, which was why they received Household Cavalry formation reconnaissance battalions, as opposed to the normal ‘lancers’, likewise the armoured infantry battalions were ‘Dragoon Guards’ rather than mere ‘dragoons’, even if the former had no ceremonial responsibilities unlike the Household Cavalry or the Foot Guards. It was however this status as a spearhead division that had resulted in the 1st Armoured being selected for deployment to Spain where, if the rumourmill was accurate (as it usually was), they would be heading straight for Madrid to cut the enemy forces off at the hip and crush them. It was all very exciting for everyone, from the highest officer down to the lowest soldier, and, of course, for excitable young Lieutenants.
Lieutenant Howard had been with his unit, 2nd Platoon, C Company, 3rd Battalion, for nine months now, and they had been damned busy nine months and he had quickly earnt the respect of his men as a result of his no nonsense attitude and eagerness to get on with the job in hand. Aside from taking part in two large scale exercises they had also seen the retirement from service of the FV107 Scimitar and its replacement en-masse by the new Ajax armoured fighting vehicle. This had of course been followed by an intense period of training with the new vehicle followed by a major exercise over the summer before any of the battalions that had so far been equipped, all Household Cavalry units assigned to spearhead divisions, had been certified for deployment. It had been an exhausting nine months, but it was also the kind of nine months that Lieutenant Howard had been eager for when he had decided to join the Imperial Army. Given the circumstances of his birth he could have lived an easy life of luxury, in due course he would succeed his father as Baron Howard and receive the revenue from their lands and holdings, around the town on Catalla in the Ducky of Alaska. But he didn’t want that. He wanted to do his part, his duty, and earn the title and lands he would automatically inherit.
Which was by he had joined the Imperial Army and was about to deploy operationally for the first time.
“Remarkable sight, isn’t it, Lieutenant?”
Lieutenant Howard turned to find the source of the voice, strong, full of authority and confident. The reason for this was obvious as soon as he laid eyes upon the speaker. The man was dressed similarly to him, in the khaki No.2 Service Dress of the Imperial Army with a heavy greatcoat worn over the top for warmth, it was tradition for officers in the Household Cavalry (and in the Foot Guards) to remain in service dress whilst on duty. Where Howard had the two pips of a Lieutenant on his shoulder epaulettes, the man in front of him had the cross-swords, pip and crown of a full General. With this in mind Howard quickly snapped to attention and rendered a crisp, parade-ground salute, which the man returned just as smartly, although with the air of a man who had done so many, many times.
“It is, my Lord,” Howard nodded, adopting the more formal title, given the man’s lofty title to go with his equally lofty rank. “I’ve seen it on TV before, but never in person.”
“You never quite get used to it, even I get a sense of excitement when I see something like this,” General The Earl of Anchorage replied with a smile. “Unfortunately my high rank precludes my serving in combat again… How are you faring, William?”
Under normal circumstances it would be highly unusual for a full General, who was Chief of the Imperial General Staff no less, to not only known the name of a lowly Lieutenant, but to speak to him in such a fashion. The difference in this case being that William’s father had served with the Earl, before he was an Earl and was just Peter Cain, as far back as the Restoration of the Empire, serving in his group before they signed on with the Empire and the rest, as the saying went, was history. This helped explain how the Howard family’s title came about. They had already been upper class under the short-lived Republic of Alaska which had ‘succeeded’ the Empire during the Dark Times, which was why his father had been an officer in Cain’s Militia. A great deal of those officers who had served with Cain were now members of the nobility, or if they were still on active duty, Knights of the Sword with titles waiting for them upon retirement, after all these men (and women) had helped restore the Empire in its earliest days, and they would be rewarded. The Earl of Anchorage and Baron Howard were still close friends, regularly meeting in any one of several traditional (that is to say not the popular euphemism) Gentleman’s Clubs in Karin City.
“Well enough, my Lord,” Lieutenant Howard replied with a nod. “It all doesn’t seem real.”
“It will the second the first bullet flies past your head, or one of your troops,” The Earl replied sagely. “Have you had breakfast yet?”
“Not yet, my Lord.”
“I’d appreciate if you’d join me in the Officer’s Mess for breakfast; I promised your father I’d sit you down and make sure your head is on straight,” The Earl smiled slightly. “And it won’t do your reputation any harm to sit down with the CIGS for breakfast!”
“Of course, my Lord, I’d be happy to,” Lieutenant Howard nodded and turned to his senior NCO, who held the rank of Corporal of Horse rather than Sergeant, as the Household Cavalry didn’t use the rank of Sergeant for historical reasons. “Corporal of Horse, take an hour for the men to have breakfast and to grab a shower, be back here to restart in one hour.”
“Yes sir,” the SNCO nodded.
“Lead the way, my Lord,” Lieutenant William smiled.
