His introduction should have been cause for an ovation of praise to fall at his feet. The way he’s saved lives of civilians and solders alike, enough for commendation. A young man with such ability and charisma around him would be a national hero, a role model of service for younger generations to be paraded in front of others, the premier example, had he been a native son. Looking from man to man, he noticed as they broke eye contact the bewilderment and disinterested comments brewing behind the shutters to their mind.
“Please sirs, continue with the discussion, I only wish to learn and help our men end this conflict before any more innocent lives become collateral damage.” Alex spoke intently, attempting to gain the focus of the men at the table around him. A few responded but the majority continued with their discontent.
The man who introduced him took his seat and waited for all eyes to revert back to him. It was apparent to Alex that whoever this man was, he was the figurehead of these men. His opinion carried the most weight, which is probably why none of the men openly questioned why the youth had joined. He focused his attention on that man instead of the puppets around him, the puppeteer was the one he needed to impress, for the others would fall inline if nothing else, out of fear.
“So how is it, young man, that you saved so many lives? Is it the massive amount of combat experience before the falling of Aurorae, or pure luck in being the right place at the right time?” A voice protruded from the crowd and was greeted with chuckles and laughter from the rest of the body.
Alex didn’t let the question bother him; he knew what the goal of the question was. He knew that the men wanted to find the crack in the armor.
“I paid attention in school, and trained for a few years longer and more intense than nearly all of your men.” His response was pointed and sharp. He knew that it wouldn’t be a smile and nod of his young face that would win these men over. It had to be playing their game better and smarter than they could. “Including tactics, like say knowing what the outcomes of sending the VC into active combat zones.”
The glares were as bitter as his response.
“Young man,” one of the old men said. “We had to take a chance with seeing what was really going on in that city. So we sent one of-”
“One of your pawns across the board to see if they would make it alive on the other side?” Alex wanted to establish his authority. “You knew those men had no chance for survival, and if it weren’t for myself and a few other men who I trained myself, you would have lost the city, the unit and had no idea what the hell was going on, or how many men moved across the pillar into Anderhill.”
There was a long pause at the table. The elder men knew that Alex was impeaching them without prejudice. They knew the decision they made would probably cost those men, and children, their lives. Yet where the pieces fell, they also thought they were right, and above reproach, especially from a young man who had no idea who they were.
“You question our judgment?” A man said leaning forward in his chair. “I have been in this chair longer than you have been pissing yourself and asking your mother to clean it for you.”
“If that is the case, then you have let many civilians die for no reason in this conflict.” The youth spoke out in earnest.
“If you are discussing the events of Aurorae, the causalities from Vanahei were minimal compared to those of the filthy nation that started the blood shed in the first place.” The truth was coming out. “They are like parasites killing, and poising a tree. The branches being the roadways and small cities while the trunk is the capital. Now if we hope to come out of this conflict intact, we most strike a harsh blow to the trunk, and that son, will leave casualties both in the military and civilian sectors. The tree is too old to just tare it up at the roots; we must cripple its growth before it can do more damage. We must veil an apple on our tree to lure our enemy into the garden, and crush him where he stands.”
Alex knew the answer before he asked, yet decided he needed to hear the old men say it. “And the NVC moving into Anderhill was to draw them across the bridge and show them there was a weak military presence in the city? In effect, and open invitation to take more ground?”
“So now you see young man, we had an idea in mind. We don’t have to justify the move to you. You only have to obey the commands, like the good little dog you are. And now that you are here, your men can’t meddle and slow down our plans for the city. It’s a wonder you people from Mispellem even make it into the school anyway. If it weren’t for the agreement of the first Great War, we wouldn’t feel the pity to bring you in.”
Again came the light chuckle from the men sitting at the table. He was a cur with no master, and they a few people who wanted the dog to stop sifting through their trash and slowing down their ill perceived notion of progress.
“My people?” Alex said quietly to himself. That’s what this was about, a nation feeling superior to one that had been kept under a secret lock and key for so long. The old men were afraid of their secret world of order, their tinkering with the world beneath the world to escape and be general knowledge. And it was clear they liked that Alex had no idea who was their foe in this fight.
He took a deep breath and continued. “Whom ever is leading the enemy is a stranger to me. He is not of kin to myself nor my bother or my family line. I know nothing of what he wants or to what extent he is willing to fight and sacrifice for this cause. But what I do know is that all of us here share the same ancestors that he did. That we come from the same line, polluted by time and lust, eventually becoming no more akin to one another than a mouse and an owl, predator and prey.”
The old men around him were no longer laughing and smiling at him, but they refrained from showing support, or wonder, they looked at him with dead eyes as he gazed around the room. Eyes that had not seen anything like this in their time, eyes that didn’t know what it was like to be in combat. Ones who were unwilling to change the doctrine that had been ingrained in them because they were fearful. Fearful of the rising of a person of lower stature to be as equals at a table, causing Alex o wonder if it was the enemy they were afraid of, or the kid in front of them, scolding them as if he was their teacher.
They avoided eye contact with him and Alex knew they were afraid of him as equally as the man on a rampage. “As you all have been informed my most recent home was Falcon’s Crest,” he paused as he made sure they were still avoiding his eyes. “It’s in Mispellem out past the Central Providences towards the mountains.” The tenseness in the chamber was unparalleled; “You describe my home country as a tree, my home town as a branch and all the small villages scattered across the land as leaves.”
“You old men sit here and try to think of ways to destroy this tree to make it a stump, instead of attempting to preserve the greatness of the trunk and its roots. The core of any country’s strength are its ideals. Ideals, which were constructed and supported by its roots, its people and their culture, my culture and where yours evolved! Yet if you are to destroy a tree this large and old, there are only two options, find as many axes as possible and chop away at the trunk, or you poison the roots and its soil. But you men are not interested in the preservation of the tree, you aren’t concerned about the innocent lives that are from places like my home town, ones in which there is no quarrel, which make you no better than this enemy that has threatened our world. We should instead reach out to the roots and change these ideals…”
A few of the councilmen started to chuckle and one finally stood in an attempt to quiet Alex. “You naïve child, we tried that already. What do you think the first Great War was all about? We tried changing your culture, your ways, educating you and helping you all evolve. Planting seeds and nurturing you, If you ask me we should have just eradicated you completely. In not doing so, we left the door open for this uprising of an Independent yet cooperating state, who has since created an illusion just to slaughter our children in the shadows, instead of a unified world. Then we wouldn’t have to even deal wit-�
�”
Alex drew his sidearm from his fatigue, stood and aimed it at the Man. “ If your mouth so much as moves again, I swear, I will give you a reason for the solution you are speaking of.”
Another Man, much older than the other pointing at the gun in Alex’s hand, stood up slowly and spoke to the guards as he moved slowly to the youth, “I thought you removed his weapons.”
The solider followed the old man with his eyes until he stood by him. “They did,” Alex spoke looking into the elder mans eyes. “But I had this one on layaway.”
While chuckling he slowly put his hand on top of Alex’s to ensure him it was ok to lower his weapon. “I speak for everyone here in saying, that the views of Col. Lambert are not the views of us all, and ask you to please help us understand. I know who taught you at the Academy, for he was once my pupil as well, and theory has always been where he excelled.”
Alex nodded in agreement and cleared his weapon, giving the clip to the old man and setting the empty weapon on the table in front of him, and waited for Col. Lambert to retake his seat at the table before speaking again.
“Colonel, I apologize. You are my superior officer and should show you respect as such. However you reached your rank in a time of peace; I in a time of war. And as such my temperament has been affected by low rations and tired men. I agree that a unified world would have been a great thing. But if your nation were to have destroyed the sapling that was ours instead of nurturing it, we would never have had a chance to bloom and the last nearly 200 years would have brought forth only yourselves instead of another world of diversity, and eventually hating yourselves and condemning us to being nothing, not even a near memory in books. I advise you that even weeds have the opportunity to bloom before they are noticed.”
This brought a few nods of agreement from the councilors. Alex finally pulled the chair out from the table in front of him and took his seat. “Gentlemen, as time ticks on values and ideals change, they are ever evolving and this would eventually lead you to another fracture as opinions and leaders evolve, along with free thinking. How many different ways can a child make a parent happy? As such how many different ways and people for that matter worship and believe in a Great Creator? But this time, the fracture wouldn’t be with a nation you are in relative harmony with; it would be of your own. A family civil war. A virus that would spread amongst you without a vaccine, since you would all be from the same strain. We, would no longer be fighting a nameless face, we would be fighting our brothers, sisters and children.”
A Long pause took over for Alex’s voice. Then men slowly exchanged looks with one another, making obvious that whoever this young man was that was before them, he wasn’t fighting for them, but with them.
“Gentlemen,” The Elder man spoke, breaking the silence. “I believe we have been given, much to think about tonight. I ask that we reconvene tomorrow at 1100 and discuss the Naglfar and start planning our next counter strike.”
The men stood up and started to murmur in agreement, a few came to Alex and shook his hand expressing their acceptance and gratitude of all he has accomplished so far. The elder watched as Alex started making his way out of the chamber before he spoke.
“Alex, would you mind going for a short walk around the facility? You were brought in, in such haste I am afraid that you will get lost during the night.”
“Please,” Alex motioned as if to say after you’ “Be my guide.”
They walked out of the room took their first left and started down a long empty corridor of concrete, he wasn’t sure how far they were underground but he could tell that the passage way was older and had not been made in the recent months, the proof was in the mortar, it wasn’t sloppy and new, but carefully laid and made sure to be aesthetically pleasing. It wasn’t before too long that the Old man spoke again.
“And it grew both day and night, till it bore an apple bright.” He stopped to look at the youth.
Alex smiled and responded with the paired couplet “And my foe beheld it shine. And he knew that it was mine.”
“I told you he was a great student of mine,” He looked at Alex, “And he spoke of you a few weeks before he lead that army through the school.”
“It was one of my favorite poems he taught us. Truth be told sir, aside from his actions, He was still a great teacher of mine.”
“Young man, I believe he hasn’t finished teaching you yet, and please don’t forget how that poem ends, victory is never out of reach.” The old man opened a heavy oak door at the end of the hallway and ushered him in. Books covered the semi-dilapidated looking walls, furnished in a matching color of the door. There was an ornate lamp that hung from the ceiling and a matching one upon a desk, littered with paper, and centrally located in the oddly placed room. The desk was accompanied by two leather chairs that faced away from the door, making it seem as though it was more like the principals office than anything else. “Please sit, this is my private office here and is a place where two men can speak frankly to one another.” The old man walked around to the head masters chair and sat slowly holding onto the armrests as they guided him to his perch.
“Now I know you are wondering who I am,” Alex smiled in confirmation. “I am Brigadier General Alfred Baldr, and I command all military preparations while the Senate is in session.”
Alex was puzzled, and his voice echoed it as he sat. “It was my understanding this war council was formed just recently-”
The nod came quickly but itself, slow. “And there was no national Army. Yes, that is the official statement. But Alex, I’ve been in command for longer than you have been alive. It has long been the view, of this council, that if Vanahei were to be under siege in any way, we should be ready so all we would have to do is respond, not react, not spend countless hours wondering what we would do, or how to go about fighting back. And thus, as an example, we have taken things like every technological advancement for the last thirty-five years and weaponized it if possible.” Alex hand a small frown on his face as Baldr continued, “We felt it was better to-”
“To lie as a nation of oppressors who were afraid that one day the animals, your pets, would do what they did a few months ago?” Baldr sat behind his desk, perfectly content to listen to Alex. “In doing this, you have pissed on every reason why the Pantheon and the way our two cultures try to exist with one another. Have you ever thought that someone within this facility thought this concept was wrong, and eventually told someone in Mispellem about your bastardization of every advancement we have made together, only to find out you hid it all away as you passed laws making it illegal for us to do the same?”
“You know Alex, you aren’t the only one to sit in this office and give me the same lecture. Your teacher once did the same thing, nearly word for word actually, and I will tell you what I told him. One day you will be in position to be a great leader of these two nations, when it happens I pray you continue, as I have, to use this knowledge to keep these two countries at peace. These machines of war are ones that in the wrong hands could be abused to oppress a nation far worse than laws and veils of lies. For with these advancements, one nation, or in this case one man, has retro fitted our designs to place us on our heals.”
“Now Alex, as you said earlier, this man does not care who he hurts or who he scarifies for his cause, this is not the cause of a nation or humanity, but of a man looking for glory. A man that only a leader of incomparable morals can stop. Now, a spy has contacted us with the location of one of the highest-ranking officers of the MLM, your teacher. In addition, two months ago, I commissioned the creation of an armada and intend for it to be commanded by a single man of my choosing. Given all I have learned from this short time of knowing you and the reputation that your unit gained in Anderhill, I am asking you to use this fleet and sail north with sealed orders, and complete the mission..”
There was a long pause before Alex spoke, “Are these the orders of Senators?”
“No, these orders are of this council. We fear th
at the Senate may not come to a treaty since the leader of the MLM has stated several times he is operating outside the knowledge of the Senators from Mispellem. If this is true, the current conclave will not have any effect on his tactics, or the pace at which he will pursue his vendetta. We do feel however, the interrogation of one of his officers may give us something.”
Alex sat in his chair, trying to absorb the information seeping from the lips of the man in front of him. Was it all a mistake to join them instead of being a ghost that brought death to those fighting him? He hadn’t faltered yet, and he was hoping this wasn’t the bump in the road that would make him.
The old man’s eyes were pleading, this couldn’t be a ruse, maybe they had been wrong, but this wasn’t the time to punish them for it, for they had saved the life of his class mates. Sitting straight he spoke clear and boldly. “I agree on your conclusions, and that the people of Mispellem need one of their own son’s to help them, I accept this mission in order to save my people, and once this is finished I will make it my goal to destroy these machines, either quietly,” His voice slowed from its natural rhythm, “Or in the open, it will be your decision.”
Baldr stood and moved to shake Alex’s hand. “I can see why you are loved by your men, you are a man of character and a better leader than all. We elders have much to learn from a man like you. Now, Rear Admiral Ehlinger, your train departs at 0400 taking you north to where your armada is waiting for you. Here are your orders,” He took out a sealed package from a desk drawer and handed it to him “They are from me and me alone, this council has too many men that would stall this operation so they could be the one to command for glory, I only have time for men who fight for their country, no matter what side of the straight they’re on. Set your course for 307° and do not open that packet till 1700 at that time you should be half way to your destination. Good Luck.”
Pillars of Glass Page 14