The right but wrong choice part 1

by Bullseye5420

Our story takes place in a timeline would Germany won world war 2 but Hitler died. with that there was no racism. now to 1964 a revolution is in the USA. this revolution is holding up a trip through space to colonize anther planet. this story is about a young man named Curt a boy only 17 going to see combat for the first time. the events that happen will change him forever.

p.1

The Right but

Wrong choice

Prologue

The time has finally come. The journey is about to begin. My crew is in their stasis pods waiting for me.

"Come on, we're dying of old age here," yells Augustus.

"In a minute," I say back. He crawls back in to his pod; the pod starts its lock down. The hiss of the pod tubes tells me it will not open until we reach the new stars system. The bolts lock down in place, then glass decompresses and I can see him. He gives me his trademark smile and tells me, "See you on the other side."

"If we make it," I say before the screen rolls down in front of his face.

"Well, best not keep them waiting". I examine my pod. It's big: about seven feet tall, four in width. It's in a nice steel black color. More than enough tubes and wires to confuse even the smartest person on this ship. "Time to crawl in I guess".

It's weird at first, but not too bad. The seat is upright, almost like a roller-coaster. I start the complex part of strapping seatbelt after seatbelt around myself. The pod closes and seals my fate. The bolts on the pod lock into place and a rush of air bellows into the pod like a gash of winter air. The glass clears and I get one last look at the room in front of me.

The room is a dark gray, with lights on the celling. The door on the opposite end of the room is a bright white with a red and orange control panel. The two pods on my left and right are numbered form one, two on the right and three, four on the left, and five at the top of mine. The lights start to dim and the room begins to go dark. The screen rolls down in front of me, and begins the video.

"You are about to embark on the most important journey of the human race. You have chosen or been chosen to take the large step forward into the unknown. Ever since the takeover by Germany, the world was never more unified than now. Technology has never been so advanced as today. Now it is time to put our tech to the test of a life time. This day will go down in history as the greatest exploration the world has ever known. Your sacrifice will further the good of mankind. Good luck, and may your brothers and sisters have your back."

The video shows the German armored insignia before the screen goes dark. The pod begins to shift its arms in the pod. It's hard to see what the arms have but I can make out needles and tubes getting into to position to inject me with an anti-nerve agent, so I don't wake up because of a little shake. It's only a second later before the needles lunge into me and unload their cargo into my blood steam. As my body starts to calm, I start to thinking about the last two months before I got here, and being more than happy to know that I'll never have to see earth again. Let all the corruption rot there.

P.2

Chapter 1

Two months earlier

"STOP TANK" Augustus stops the tank slowly. "ENEMY ARMOR, 49 DEGREES 600 meters, LOAD AP SHELLS". The Christin unloads the HEAT shell that she put in earlier and slaps in an AP with a clunk. "UP" she yells. Anthony responds "ON THE WAY". The tank shakes hard and jerks back.

The T-44 goes up in flames and the turret flies off indicating that we hit the ammo rack. "Target down" I say as we start to calm down. "Christin load another AP, something tells me he was not alone". I look around with the infrared camera,nothing. "Turn out. Standby." I flop open the hatch look at the tree line past the meadow.

A tree sways a little and I follow the trunk down to the forest floor, a large finger is moving under some bushes. I slide down and close hatch. I move the infrared camera to the bushes and paint them with a laser. "Anthony watch those bushes". "Yes sir... ENEMY HEAVY TANK 14 DEGREES". The turret turns into place but the KV beats us to the punch and fires.

The round hits the horizontal drive and the turret is stuck. "DAMN IT" he looks at me. "What n-, "he's cut off as I yell. "Augustus, TURN 8 DEGREES LEFT". The tank rumbles and shifts to the left oh so, slightly. Christin holds an APCR in place ready to reload at a moment's notice. Anthony looks through the scope and cranks at the handle for the vertical aiming mechanism. He stops and bites his bottom lip and says "on the way".

The round hits the lower lip of the KV. The KV starts to smoke, first just in the back. Then the smoke turns tar black and gushes out the back, like a steam train's chimney. The hatch soon follows suit and bursts open with a fire bright orange and then dies back down. We all take a well-deserved sigh of relief. "Target down" I say and we all look at each other and smile. The tank resets and the meadow disappears. A red light shines inside the tank. We all exit the tank and through our respective hatches. We all group up near the door and look up at the screen and wait for our score.

We need at least an 85 out of 100 to be deemed combat ready. Being killed in action is an automatic failure. We hold our breath for what feels like an hour. The number lights up on the bored, 86/100. "Oh shit" I say as ever one else jumps up and high fives, catching a few myself. The door opens and the officers stand at attention. We all stand up to attention as quick as possible from our little celebration. Christin stumbles a bit but recoils back in to line. "At ease" the officers step forward and give us papers. "Congratulations cadets, you passed the exam and now you're ready for combat". "Permission to speak freely sir." Augustus got that look like he's about to say something cocky. "Permission denied, you all are to report to the administration building at 7:00PM for your first assignment." Augustus gave the officer a scowl but quickly snaps his face forward as not to cause trouble. "That is all, you are dismissed for the rest of the day, good luck with your assignment." "Yes sir," I say. I check my pocket watch; it's 12o-clock now.

We start to walk down the hall; Augustus breaks the silence "who else is excited about being deployed?" "Not me, you think they would let us rest a little before they deploy us so fast" says Christin. Anthony comes up behind Christin and slings his arm around her "oh come on don't be so gloomy, what's the worst that can happen?" She leans into his chest and lock the hands together. I start to fake gag, Augustus starts to die laughing and I join along. "The worst is we all get medals for being in this stupid war". "Hey, you two love birds can go clean the tiger today, me and Augustus did it last time". "Fine, but first me and Christin are going to get some lunch. You guys coming?" We all stop at the intersection to the dorms and lunch room. I'm about to say sure, but Augustus jumps in "no, me and Curt got to go take care of some paperwork. So will see you guys around 6-ish" Christin gives me and Augustus a suspicious look, but soon lets it go. "Try not to get in too much trouble"

Anthony picks up Christin and starts toward the lunchrooms. Augustus and I walk in the opposite direction. "What was all that about" I say. He gives me a smile only he can make and says "just wanted to give them some privacy". "Bullcrap, what's the real reason?" I give him a scowl. His smile turns into a frown "tell you when we get back to our room."

We approach the door. Our crew number stamped right on top, 99. I open the door to find the officers are doing a surprise check of our rooms. "Sergeant John Carder, why am I even surprised?" I fold my arms and raise my eyebrow. "THAT'S STAFF sergeant to you, Private Curt." He's already mad, better not push it. "So what did we miss this time?" He straightens his back and says "your bed was not make and a tooth brush was left in the sink". "Is that all?" I respond. "Yes, you passed but you better watch your tongue around your officers." He starts to walk out the room and down the hall to the next room. "I'm glad we'll be out of here tomorrow" Augustus says in a low tone. "Right. The sooner the better."

I walk into the cozy 11X9 room we have been in for a month. Two bunk beds on each side of the room, four beds in total. Two dressers on both sides of the door and one bathroom door between the dressers and bunks. The bunks are closed off from all sides except the side opposite the wall. A small dim light in the room makes it darker than it should. I start down the little ally to my bunk, lower right. Augustus follows soon after and closes the door behind him.

I roll into bed, and take a second to enjoy the never-ending happiness of bed. By this time Augustus hops in the bunk opposite of mine and flips to his side facing me. "Think the older vets that got back will brand us?" he says with a worried look on his face. "What are you even talking about?" I give him a confused look. "Some of the others said the vets retuning home brand the cadets...for an initiation" I look at him with a smile "do you know how stupid you sound?" It takes him a moment to think about it, but he laughs. "Yeah, it does kind of sound a little ridicules." He smiles and lies back in the bunk and puts a hand behind his head. I do the same and say "want to see what's on the radio?" "Sure, why not".

I lean myself off the bed in an attempt to turn on the radio, but slip out of the bunk and fall on the floor. "Nice going". "Uggghhh" I get up with a grunt and turn on the radio "let's see what there is". The first station is some classical German music. "They still make that stuff" Augustus says leaning over to see what I'm doing. "Guess so". The next station is a news channel. "In other news the revolution in the North Americas rages on, the Freedom Fighters, as they call themselves have set up strongholds in the northeastern part of America. The German National Guard has stopped their offensive for much needed rest and reinforcements. The much awaited launch of the last few parts for the space ship the Neuanfang is set to launch after the war, soon after, two-million people will be chosen to come aboard one of the 26 transport ships. Five-hundred-thousand members of the military and Scientists from all around the world will join as well. The world counts the days until we reach an age of science beyond our planet and solar system."

It's all too real. That five hundred thousand was picked a long time ago. I, my crew and half the German military are genetically enhance test tube solders. Far from perfect solders, but damn well close. Trained from kids, we go through basic training and have school till we are sixteen. After that we get an evaluation and we can decide to stay in the army or move to a city to either work or further our schooling. But that's where the evaluation kicks in. if you score too low you are put to work in the city, not a fun life. If someone scores high enough they go and be an officer or scientist. But if you're like everyone else you get an okay score. You take a day or two to make up your mind. Surprisingly most leave for good jobs in the city and being scientists or doctors. But me, I wanted the life of discipline and sacrifice. And boy did I bite off more than I can chew. They selected me and ten others to go on this important mission. Three of the ten were pulled into a test with this new enhancement that is top secret till we get to the new planets.

I wake up from my little day dream of remembering and I'm back in front of the radio, in-between the bunks. "Dude, you ok" Augusts says in a confused voice. "Yeah, just thinking." I turn the knob on the radio and find a channel that plays an electronic rock in English. "Keep it there I like that station." He rolls back into the bunk and puts his hands behind his head. I do the same and roll into the bunk and cover up with the blanket. I'm soon left to myself as Augusts falls asleep in the bunk. My thoughts turn to him.

He is very fit. He has a buzz-cut blond hair and striking green eyes. He's very thoughtful too. I can think of a couple time he has given his lunch to other person or just helped someone for no reason. If only a quarter of the people here did the same, this place would not be as bad. I'm glad he's in my crew; I can't image how else we do so well together. Every person has their reasons I guess. The music starts to lull me to sleep; I soon follow Augusts lead and fall asleep.

Chapter 2

Christin shakes me awake. I'm confused at first but soon realize what's going on. "Its time to get up Curt, its 5:30". "I'm up I'm up" I roll up and set on the bunk. I see everyone packing there stuff in duffle bags. "Come on bro, start getting your stuff packed we leave tomorrow at 7:00" Anthony says while shoving some shirts in his duffle bag. I stretch out my arms and legs and stand up. Christin turns around and hands me a folder the has "crew 99" stamped in red on it. "These are our deployment papers and airport pass. Our flight leaves at 2:00 in the morning". August over hears and shoots up "2:00 IN THE MORNIG". "That's right" christen replies mockingly. "Well what are we going to do till then" I say. "There's going to be a party at the lunch hall" Anthony says zipping up his bag. "They will call the times an hour and a half before the flight so we will get there on time, it starts at seven". "Wait, don't we need to report to the administrative office at seven" I say while I start to pack my stuff. "How do you think I got the pass" Christin says with a mocking tone. "Oh".

Soon enough we all have our stuff pack and 6:30 rolls around. We all are tuned out, deep in thought with blank exasperations on our faces. The silence is broken by the intercom. "Attention, there is an assembly in the lunch room that is mandatory for everyone leaving today. All cadets leaving for North America can you please pack your things and proceed to the lunch room to put your bags on the truck to be transported to the airport. That is all" we all picked up our duffle bags and leave the room to the light brown hall way. There is an eyry silence in the hall way the only noise is the whispers of the other crews around us. Soon the whispers are replaced with an odd thumping sound. It's not bad; it's in a rhythm like a hart beat. I start to over hear Anthony and Christin saying something like "is that what I think it is". "I hope so" Anthony says before the now loud thumping grows louder then him. We are coming up on the main doors of the lunch room when the lines of people are turned to the right by an officer. John carder, and he has a pretty big grin on him, but he makes an even bigger grin when his eyes meet mine. We don't say anything and walk outside.

The breeze from the outside hits me instantly as we leave the compound walls. We walk on the side a hill that the compound rests on. The hill over looks the training grounds that are usually filled men and tanks, but it is replaced with an orange sun set and cool September breeze. There is a Culp of trucks parked by the side door entrance of the lunch room. The line of people moves to the back of the trucks and people pile there duffel bags in the back of the trucks, all the same color of black and red. Only the name, rank, and crew number show which is whose. Soon enough we are at the trucks. The man in the truck motions for us to give him our duffel bags and toss them back in to the pile. We are then turned to the doors and make our way in.

The lunch room has been converted into a nightclub with music so loud that bass rocks my chest. That's just the way I like it. Anthony and Christin run to the dance floor, hand in hand. Me and Augustus make our way to a Culp of tables that acts like a bar and set down. "CAN YOU BELEVE THIS" I have to yell so can hear me "NOT AT ALL" he response. We both order some drinks from the bartender, who is one of the few respectful officers around here. Only officers can have alcohol so we just get some water. We don't talk because it's almost impossible to hear each other so we just give each other glances. We sit for a bit looking over the room.

There are officers at each side of the room, some even dancing with the cadets on the dance floor. There are catwalks along the walls, all of which have officers with drinks and enjoying themselves. At the middle of one of the catwalks there's a DJ table with an engineer cadet working it. He must be having the time of his life up there.

I was startled when Augustus shakes me out of thought and motions for me to look at the two of the many love birds on the dances floor. I smile and look around at the dance floor, then it hits me. There is beautiful woman with buzzed black hair a Couple of feet away from Anthony and Christin. Augustus looks not too far the same girl. I and Augustus set down our drinks and walk to our targets. The two girls moved into the crowed somewhere. It's a chase.

I entered the edge of the dance floor and start to move to the beat and merged with the crowed. It was not hard to move but everyone jumped and moved left to right at the beat. Soon enough, the girl I spotted earlier was a few more feet away. I stayed in the spot I was in, and waited for the perfect opportunity. She look over at me right when I was checking to see if she stayed in the same spot. We locked eyes and I smiled trying to be as charming as I can be. She smiled back and I took the chance and moved to her as best I could. I came up close and danced with her. it was like a dream. As if on cue, the music slowed down and the room fell to a light blue color readying up for a slow dance. For a moment there was a small panic as everyone ether found a partner or get off the dance floor. I was scared for a sec, I didn't know how to slow dance. I looked around and spotted Anthony and Christin matching up and stepped in small circles. I quickly and gently took her hands pulling her closer and copied Anthony an Christin dance. I rapped my arm around her waist and she rolled her arm behind my neck as we started to step in unison. We both blushed brightly because this was her first time too. After a few missed steps we got a rhythm and relaxed. She spoke first

"So what's your name?" she said softly as not to disturb other couples. "Curt Gunther, and yours" "Elena hope" that name clicked in my head it was the best name I ever heard. "What time are you leaving"? "Why you making plans" she said this while dragging her finger nail across the under part of my chin also putting on an evil grin on. "You can say that" I said. I came a little closer and we touched each other's forehead. The room fell pitch black and the blue and green turned back on. The music was changing tracks. "Let's find a place to sit" she said as she started to haul me over to the corner of the room not waiting for a response.

We sat at a small table in the corner of the room. The music is back to its loud bass and sound, but in this corner it's not as loud as it was. "So what ti-"she waste no time and locks lips with me. I was cut off guard and pulled back a bit, but she already rapped her arm around my neck and the back of my head in her other hand. We did this for a good 5 minutes before letting me go. She backed up a bit and waited for a response. I was at a loss for words, I was about to say something but the first anowsment for the 10 o'clock flights was called. She got up from her chair and started for the door. "WAIT, WHATS YOUR NUMBER" I called out to her as she was about to leave."68" she said so softly I almost didn't hear it over the crowed leaving out the door."68" I Sayed under my bearth. The crowed of people left and the doors closed. I felt a little heartbroken for her leaving, I got over it but it took the party out of me.

I laid back in my seat and looked over the room from the new angle. The sound wasn't as loud here. The dance floor is back in full swing, but the room is much less crowded since 1/3 of use just left. I look more to the left and see Augusts making out with some girl I didn't know. I gave him a small chuckle and relaxed back into my set and kicked my feet on another chair. I let the beat guide me into my thoughts and shut my eyes.

I lost track of time because when I come back to my senses the room was almost empty and the room was no longer filled with energy like it was. I found the whole gang setting at one of the tables at the end of the room. I checked my pocket watch that I had in the pocket of my grey shorts, 11:30. I stand up from my chair and stretch-out my stiff limbs and make my way over to the table my friends are at. The room has gotten a little quitter from what I remember. I make it to the table just in time to hear Christin tell how smart Augustus is. "God your special, you know that Augustus" "not as much as you Christin" with that they all laughed and throw there hands up. I took a seat next to Christin as I waited for them to settle down.

"Oh that's good, hay Curt" Anthony said as he was sitting back up from laughing. "Hay, what are you guys doing". "Nothing just wasting time, were is that girl I saw you with" Augustus says with a smile on his face "she left with the first group, we about yours" "she diched me for the second group" "I guess were both lost out" "yep" he said with a sigh.

We chatted for a bit but it wasn't long before we were told its time to leave. "Finally" Anthony said. We took our time getting off the table so we ended up being last, but it didn't matter sense the bus seats were assigned by crew number. We had the first two seats in the front right behind the officers they had sets to them self's. We had to double up, two in each seat. It wasn't crowded just full. I sat next to the window and Augustus sat next to me. Christin and Anthony sat at the set a crossed from us. We were quiet when the bus started to move. We were worn-out and wanted to take a quick nap. Augustus and me stayed up because we already slept back at our rooms. I watched the country pass by as we made our way to the airfield not to for away. We went there before for some parachute training during basics.