The Ballad of General Shepherd: Disc One
Act I, Scene I
Overture: "Moonlight Sonata, 1st movement" By Ludwig Van Beethoven.
"In distant future, a story set in stone."
"A patriot with a dream, departs from his home."
"His mission: Just. His cause: true."
"Never again will he see his country in Red, White and Blue."
The rain sprinted down the clear windshield of the antique car, curving and dashing in random paths as more rain continued to fall. It was a never ending cycle, with a constant and repeating rhythm. Like a heartbeat or the constant panting of a dog. It always continued, and never stopped.
A constant pattern. A constant rhyme. Constants and Constants. Never changing, always repeating.
That was what the world had come to. Patterns upon patterns. It was so predictable it was elementary. Nothing changed, no matter what anyone did.
The world always turned, and the sun always rose and set. The tides changed, and the moon appeared and vanished. The clock always turned right, and spun exactly 24 times everyday.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Boundaries Shift.
New players step in.
But power always finds a place to rest his head.
That was the world. A constant pattern. You kill one and three more take his place, and your back to square one.
You make sacrifices, and what do you gain in the end?
30,000 men, lost in a blink of an eye.
A middle east dictator, killed in Russia. The son of a Russian rebel leader, killed in a sting operation. A nuclear launch diverted, and the man behind it killed in the operation.
The world safe, secure and sound, once again.
But power always finds a place to rest its head. Someone always takes up the cause, and sends the world back into turmoil.
Nothing changes, Nothing improves. And now 30,000 men are dead, all in vain.
Nothing will change, nothing can change.
Unless someone changes the rules...
The car door swung open and a man wearing a long brown coat and black beret stepped out onto the dark Moscow street, a briefcase in one hand, his other in his coat pocket, holding a concealed pistol hiding out of sight.
The man closed the door and began to walk down a dark alley, his eyes set on a metal door at the other end. If things were to change, the rules had to be changed. Deals had to be made. Sacrifices had to be made. It was the only way change could truly happen.
The man stopped, feeling the rain hitting and falling on his shoulders. Its constant pattern neither stopping or changing.
This was now the only way. This is what it would have to take to change history. Change the world.
He would be a hero. A patriot. Remembered in history as a legend for what he did. He would be revered as a man who saved everyone, when the time called for it.
The man closed his eyes, feeling the constant pattern of rain fall on him.
"History is written by the victors..." The man recited in his mind. "History is always written by the victors..."
Lieutenant General David Shepherd opened his pale blue eyes, starring down the dark alley towards his destination.
"Time to get to work."
