The Kathiawari Mare

by AShadowOfCygnus

21 Midsummer 703

Author's Note:

There are hundreds of documents--reports, forms, horn-scribed copies of vellum dating back nearly as far as the Kathiawari Mare incident itself--but only a hoof-ful bear names to command a historian's attention.

Result of Exam

Aspirant: Lady I. Lulamoon
Institution: Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns
Date of Exam: 21 Midsummer 703
Maressrs. L. Farthing, Rt Hon. T. Wickham, G. Clovenhoof presiding

Reason for Testing: Requirement for Assessment to Transfer

Scenario:
Variant of the traditional Kathiawari Mare scenario—one airship with standard complement against five-score Griffonian raiders with light artillery and an unknown number of prisoners. All appropriate gear and magicks supplied, and may be hereafter assumed. Scenario took place in an unrecognised desert badlands far from any recognisable contemporary Equestrian or Griffonian holding, with a single cragged canyon as the only defining geography. Candidate was placed in command of the Auvergne-class airship HMS Blue Duchess.

No alterations to the scenario were undertaken by this Board of Examination.

Account:
The simulacrum was entered and attuned without significant incident. However, Her Ladyship experienced some early signs of the simulacrum sickness, and was escorted below-decks by the simulated crew. It is thought that this early retreat might have some had some impact on the crew’s subsequent morale—there was no small amount of grumbling on deck as to the comforts afforded the captaincy in the scalding desert heat—but it shall have no impact on the candidate’s overall scoring, given its likely roots in the structure of the examination. In any event, Her Ladyship was to be found well and recovered at the tiller within the space of a quarter hour.

Thus resolved, Lady Lulamoon requested of her officers certain reports as to the parameters of their mission, and any intelligence gathered. Such orders were delivered by the executive officer in a sealed envelope bearing the royal seal; though Lady Lulamoon did not elect to share the information therein with her subordinates, this Board was privy to the contents of the letter—a first-order request to locate an airship—the Kathiawari Mare of the scenario—believed lost to enemy fire while on routine patrol. No further details as to enemy strength (presumed or otherwise) were provided, though the Blue Duchess was urged to retreat and report its findings before engaging any hostile force.

Her Ladyship ordered a standard search pattern, focussing primarily on the canyon and its various ancillary arms, any of which might provide suitable shelter for the grounded crew. The Blue Duchess spent the remainder of the afternoon surveying the length of the canyon, scouring some sixty miles of terrain in intensive detail. No scouts were deployed, under the assumptions that 1) wreckage would be easily visible and 2) that friendly forces would make themselves evident on recognising an Equestrian vessel.

Near dusk, a flare—presumed to be of magical origin, given its particular tenor and resemblance to a firework—was seen by the lookout, fired off over a previously-swept part of the canyon. Her Ladyship ordered the vessel turned at once and brought directly to the source; again, neither auxiliary detachment nor answering flare was sent out, and the Blue Duchess drove straight for the canyon.

As one might readily expect, the Griffonian force lying in wait among the cliffs below took this opportunity to strike, rising swiftly out of the canyon to rake both flanks of the approaching airship with cannon and their peculiar heated wing-blades. Only by a stroke of great good fortune did this first salvo miss the powder store, and it was by this stroke that the majority of the crew survived the engagement at all. The envelope proved far less lucky, and—whether by shot or stroke—the treated canvas was punctured, and the airship quickly began to lose altitude.

Blessedly, the simulacrum’s concept of an airship incorporates several of the later lessons our early engagements with the Griffons taught us; namely in the composition of lifting gases to be used to minimise flammability. Had any earlier model been represented in the examination, the crew would surely have perished.

At this point, the Board was offered its first real chance to evaluate Lady Lulamoon’s well-documented talent for the arcane. To her Ladyship’s credit, for all that she had been taken by surprise, she grasped the contours of the situation readily enough, and acted accordingly: with a moment’s focus, two phantom simulacra of the Blue Duchess split off from the body of the vessel. At the same time, Her Ladyship ordered a third, new course for the ship, relayed telepathically to the pilot so as to confound any watchful Griffon ear, and drove the three on listing courses over roughly a mile of the surrounding terrain, and finally to ground.

This had the intended effect of splitting the enemy’s attention, and several squadrons that might otherwise have ravaged the crew instead flew off to investigate the phantom wrecks more than a mile distant. It is a testament to Her Ladyship’s facility with the Art that her phantom Duchesses confounded the enemy so, and still more so that she was able to refocus the same energy into a similar ploy as the crew scrambled from the beached vessel, simulating a panicked rout of facsimiles as the officers effected a quick march into the nearby hills.

The Blue Duchess’ helmsmare was an experienced sort, and had grounded the craft with only light casualties—and of those, only the unfortunates at the lower bow at time of impact suffered worse than a bruise or a cut forehead. The majority of the crew were thus able to evacuate the wrack with minimal difficulty, while Her Ladyship remained within the bowels of the wreck to orchestrate the illusion. Under her careful direction, illusive soldiers engaged Griffonian forces in the air and on the ground, detonating with explosive force when struck.

This worked for a time, thinning Griffonian forces sufficiently for the crew to reach cover and begin digging in for a protracted defence. However, their commanders soon wised to the ruse, and directed further fire be focussed on the wrack. A few moments’ cannonade was sufficient to find the magazine, which blew directly, incapacitating Her Ladyship and ending the simulation.

Results:
It is the right and duly-considered Judgment of this Board of Examination that Lady Lulamoon be awarded a Mark of 6 for the quick—if ultimately ineffectual—tactical thinking demonstrated in the course of this examination, balanced as it is by the headstrong command style that necessitated it. Though the Board applauds Lady Lulamoon’s inventive use of the illusive magicks noted herein—and indeed her demonstrable personal competence in large-scale engagements—we understand from her academic record that Her Ladyship has made an extensive study of manoeuvre warfare and should very likely have seen the ambuscade for what it was.

Though the airship was successfully evacuated before its destruction, and a fair proportion of the crew able to make a fighting retreat across the badlands to safety, casualties were severe, and by the end of the scenario any surviving crew from the Kathiawari Mare may have been presumed killed by their Griffonian captors. All of this might have been avoided had the candidate observed a greater degree of circumspection in the initial investigation of the crash site, as it was known to the candidate that Griffon forces were in the area and had likely compromised any survivors.

Hence, while we remark positively on Lady Lulamoon’s quick wit and obvious grasp of the particulars of battlefield control, it is our strong recommendation that more time be invested in her study of airship manoeuvres and small-unit tactics on the ground. With time and additional training in these fields, we fully believe Her Ladyship capable of meeting—and exceeding—the qualifications for a full officer’s commission at the rank determined suitable by the General Staff.

Comments

[Lurks-no-More]

An ancestor of Trixie, obviously. Looks like the talent for illusions goes in the family!