Line of duty
The first thing Welkin saw was the light. A really powerful white light that nearly blinded him for a second. Then, the yelling began.
"Stay where you are!"
"Do not move!"
"Hands where I can see them!"
"We need backup here! Intruders!"
"Will you fucking stand down, you damn bit…UUMPF!"
Welkin's sight slowly focused…and he saw at least eighteen men in blue uniforms pointing strange-looking rifles at him. Beside him, his fellow Gallian militiamen had already raised their hands, and two of the strange soldiers were gathering their weapons. Fighting noises caught his attention, and he shifted his sight to the right. Two other soldiers were trying to hold on to Selvaria, but she just kicked one of them away.
"Get your filthy hands off me, you insignificant..." The Imperial could not finish her sentence before two big men tackled her, bringing her to the ground. Another large and intimidating soldier grabbed a rifle and violently smacked her in the head with the butt of the weapon, silencing her.
Alicia stepped forward. "Hey, don't do that!" she said, before the large soldier pointed his rifle at her.
"Shut up, you! I have more for you if you interested!" he yelled, waving the weapon. "Back in line NOW, or I swear I…"
"Cut it out, Ivan" spoke a cold and unpleasant voice. The large soldier froze and immediately lowered the gun.
"General Andrianova, I…" he began, but the noise of a rolling wheelchair and the cold voice cut his speech again.
"Everybody, calm down. These are not Outsiders…apparently". A middle aged-woman in a wheelchair came quickly into view. As she saw her, Welkin noted she was missing both her legs. He had seen war amputees before, but there was something very authoritative…and scary…about this one in particular.
"So…I don't know who you are and, for now, I do not particularly care. What I want to know right NOW, is what you are doing in my base. And do not try to give me bullshit; I learned to detect it before you were probably even born"
Welkin didn't know what to say for a moment. Then he answered in the only possible way.
"We are members of the Gallian Militia. As for why we are here…well, honestly I don't know. I saw some sort of a blue portal open when…"
"Slow down, kid" replied coldly the strange woman. "Gallian Militia? What sort of military corps is that? Never heard before…and never saw uniforms like those…who are you, kid?"
"My name is Welkin Gunther…Lieutenant Welkin Gunther, madam. And this is Squad 7 of the Gallian Militia…well, most of it" answered the young officer.
The woman did not reply. Instead, she moved closer to him.
"Careful, General! They could be dangerous!" yelled the big soldier. The woman turned around and fixed her gaze into his eyes.
"Another word and I swear I'll stick your damn rifle down your throat. Now shut up and take that white haired woman to the Barracks cell block. I think she needs to…cool down a bit, she's way too emotional. Like your sorry ass" she concluded.
The big soldier immediately stepped back and ordered two other soldiers to help him lift Selvaria. The woman in the wheelchair turned back to Welkin.
"My name is General Nina Andrianova" she said. "You say you're a Lieutenant of this…what did you call it? Oh right, this Gallian Militia or something. How did you manage to get an officer promotion at such a young age? How old are you, kid?"
"I am twenty-two, madam. I was enlisted to fight an invasion of my homeland from the Empire of…oh, I guess you never heard of that either, right?" Welkin was at a complete loss. Who were these people? Why did they keep asking him those strange questions? How could they not know what Gallia was? Where was he?
"I don't understand anything of what you're saying, kid…but what really is important to me is to know you're not an Outsider" the woman looked him straight in the eye. "And I can see you're not lying to me. You really are some sort of soldier…and you killed before. I can read it in your eyes"
Welkin shivered. The woman's gaze felt like it was piercing his soul.
"You did not enjoy that. I like it" added the woman. "Lower your weapons, everyone"
The mysterious blue soldiers obeyed her immediately. The woman spoke again:
"I do not know where you came from, but I must ask you to follow me immediately. Only you" she added, when she saw Alicia stepping forward. The wheelchair turned, and Welkin followed the General as two soldiers took his sides with their weapons ready.
The small group took a corridor and the woman spoke again.
"Since you seem to not remember anything, I'll resume things for you. We were doing our business as usual, when suddenly you and your people appear out of nowhere in the area we were clearing to expand our facilities. Just like that. A blinding blue light, and then you were there. And your white-haired friend tried to punch Ivan Roskov…not an intelligent plan if I have to say"
Welkin suddenly remembered Selvaria being easily taken down by the soldiers. That was not right; she was supposed to be a Valkyria. Why did her body not emit the blue flames anymore?
"She's not my friend, General She is an Imperial…by the way, look out for her. She's very dangerous…and I mean really dangerous. I saw her tear apart tanks with her Spear"
The General paused for a second. Then, she continued her speech.
"Well, we'll do just that until I finally manage to understand why this is happening. I don't recall her having a spear of some sort, but we'll take care not to let her near it if you say she's dangerous. She was dressed differently, I recall…we'll have to speak of this Empire later. You don't really know where you are, right?"
Welkin shook his head. The General sighed.
"Well, I guess I can tell you. This is the main American base of the Xenonaut Initiative. Our objective here is to repel the biggest invasion in the history of Mankind, and you just got into all of this in some way. Now that you're my guest, I can tell you just this: every single one of us is in danger…I, you, your friends and all the people you see here. This enemy is vicious and does not take prisoners. Since I sincerely doubt I can send you back from where you came, you have to make a choice"
The General interrupted her speech, and stopped the wheelchair, turning around to face Welkin.
"Either you help us in this, and I warn you there's a fair chance you're not coming back, or you and your merry brigade are confined in the cell blocks…and you'll be extremely tight in there because we did not expect such a number of visitors. Of course, this means you're going to die if the Outsiders manage to discover us, because we're not letting you have your weapons if we cannot trust you"
General Andrianova looked saddened for a moment. Then she regained her composure and spoke again.
"Yes, Welkin, I'm asking for your help. I would normally not enlist someone I just met into a secret Initiative knowing I would probably just get him killed. The reason is, I have no choice. I already lost more men I would like in previous encounters with our enemies. I desperately need more people, and I cannot find them…and then you and your people appear". She pauses for a moment. "I have a good feeling about you, and I'm never wrong in this kind of things. You have military experience, and so probably do your companions…I obviously cannot force any of you into this, but I can promise I will try to…send you back to wherever you came from if we manage to pull ourselves out of this mess"
Welkin was taken aback from the offer. He heard a hint of carefully masked desperation in the woman's voice. Apparently, there was no way back to the plains of Naggiar for now, so he had to play along. However, he could not ask his men to blindly accept the offer, even if he was their commanding officer…and he would not accept the offer himself without knowing more.
"I may be able to provide help…but I need to know more before I can make a decision. Those are my men we're talking about. You're an officer too, so I hope you'll understand"
The woman hesitated, and then she spoke again. "I assure you I perfectly understand your predicament. I can share information with you, but you'll have to give me your world of honor nothing of this conversation will get out of this room…for now"
Welkin nodded with decision. The woman spoke again.
"This planet is called Earth…and half a month ago it came under attack from a species coming from beyond our skies…directly from space. This race outnumbers and outguns us in every regard, and we still don't know why they haven't invaded us on a full scale yet. They just send out small expeditions for now. Still, fighting them back is an extremely dangerous task and eight of our best men have already been killed. This is all you need to know for now. This Outsider race is cruel and apparently wants our planet for itself".
The woman interrupted her speech for a second, then she added: "I understand your people are in some sort of war too. I don't know how it's going, but I have a feeling you know what it means to feel cornered by the enemy"
Welkin nodded. He knew all too well, and knowing he was not there, fighting for his people made him feel useless. On the other side, the speech about a race coming from the stars spurred the interest of the naturalist in him. Even if he knew this was not really his war, he wanted to know more.
"I…I guess I'll accept. There is no way back, anyway, and I cannot just sit idly by when there are people risking their lives" he answered. "I cannot force my men into this, however. I will give them this information, and they'll decide for themselves"
The woman looked him in the eye another time. Then she made a condescending gesture with her hand. "It's more than I would have hoped. You can give the information to your men, but speak of this with nobody else outside of this base. I really trust you on this"
Welkin nodded, and the guards escorted him back to his companions.