Year 13, Month 05, Day 34

HMS Illustrious

Tunis System, Afrikana Region

Rommel watched as the ship he was on drifted silently through the darkness of space. After months of being in this galaxy, he still marveled at just what humanity was capable of doing. He never considered himself an optimist when it came to how humanity would progress, but he thought that maybe as technology progressed, they would outgrow certain aspects, but it seemed that warfare was something that seemed to come out no matter what you did to suppress it.

He saw several of his ships unloading equipment toward the planet surface. He wondered what the men and women of the Thirty-First Army thought of him. He knew he had their respect, but he wondered what their personal feelings for him were. It all depended on whether or not they would follow his orders in combat. I guess I will find out when the time comes, he thought to himself.

The door behind him slid open, and expecting it to be his adjutant, he didn't turn around. "Is this the respect that German soldiers give to allies?" the voice, clearly not his adjutant said.

Rommel spun around, surprised to see Admiral Cunningham, the Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, standing in front of him. Rommel did a crisp salute, with Cunningham smiling slightly at Rommel's shock.

"We may be allies now, but I still expect to have proper military etiquette on my ships," he said, returning the salute. "And don't think that because you were important on Earth that it gives you priority of assets in this operation. You fall under the command of General Alexander, and you will follow the chain-of-command."

Rommel was used to this by now. He knew of his fame for tactics from Churchill, and that he was a traitor to Getov and under suspicion by most of Allied Command. "I give you my word, Admiral that I will not compromise this operation, and I will follow military procedures. I have more to fight for now. You and I both know what happens to Germany after the Second Great War, and as long as Hitler remains in power, I cannot allow that to happen." He takes a deep breath before he continued. "I will fight to the best of my ability, and honorably."

"That is good to hear, General," Cunningham said, walking up to Rommel and extending his hand. When Rommel took it he gave it a few pumps and let go. "With one of the best German military commanders assisting us, I think we can end the war a little earlier than originally, especially if we can avoid the mistakes of the past."

"Agreed," Rommel said, turning to look out the viewport again.

"It is quite a sight, isn't it?" Cunningham said walking up beside him, looking out at the activity around the ship and he saw Rommel nod. "I would do the same thing back on Earth. There is a peacefulness out in the sea, and it seems that it is the same in space."

"You could almost forget that there was a war," Rommel said, softly.

"Yes, you could. After all of this is over, I may decide to explore this galaxy," Cunningham said. "I feel younger than I truly am, and I have a feeling that I have a few more decades before God decides to take me away."

"That does sound nice," Rommel replied. "I know that my wife and son would like that."

"Do you still send her a message every day?" the admiral asked. "I remember hearing that you wrote to her everyday back on Earth."

"Every chance I can. I made a promise and I intend to keep it. I know that she was against me doing this, but this is war, and it is what I know. Besides, I have a second chance to do something about Hitler, and not just watch as do nothing."

"Good to know. There is another reason I am here, besides to emphasize that any dissident action by you would not be tolerated," Cunningham said, firmly. "I have a transport ready to take us down to the surface of the planet. We are to meet with General Alexander so that we can finally learn about what this operation will be. Be at the hangar in thirty minutes."

...

Sitting in the shuttle as it left the hangar of the carrier felt different from the aircraft Rommel had flown on Earth. He could feel slight movements, but it was smooth and quiet. He heard a small hum, but that was the extent of the noise. Rommel made a mental note to try and learn how to fly one of these things.

Major Mason and a couple from his staff sat in their seats, strapped in. Rommel decided he would rather sit up near the cockpit, to watch how the pilots handled the vehicle. He knew that he was receiving a few funny looks, but he ignored them.

He heard a muffled voice from the co-pilot's headset, but was unable to hear what it was. The co-pilot turned toward him and said, "Sir, you will want to return to your seat. Long-range sensors have detecting something coming toward our location, but it hasn't been identified."

Taking the pilot's word, he moved back to his seat and fastened his harness. He hated this: being in a situation where he couldn't do anything but sit and wait. He was looking outside the viewport when an explosion happened. Rommel looked out the viewport on the opposite end and saw a ship exploding. Soon, there were a couple more and he saw a ship appear out of nowhere. He saw the black cross on the hull and knew that it was Getov. It was a raid against the planet, but for what he didn't know.

The pilot took evasive action when the ship appeared and turned away from explosions. He called in to Command, alerting them of the situation, only to learn that three of these ships had appeared from out of nowhere. He received word that Albion ships were moving in to attack the Getov raiders when almost as quickly as they appeared, they were gone.

"Pelican, Five," the pilot heard over the comm, "can you give us a visual of the attacking ships? Are they anywhere near you?"

He looked around, seeing nothing but the blackness of space and the debris of five Albion ships. "Negative on that," he replied. "I see nothing and the sensors aren't picking up anything either. It seems as though they just disappeared."

Rommel heard only half of the conversation, but he heard enough to know what had happened. The Getvo ship had escaped, but them appearing and disappearing was something that he did not understand how. Obviously it was not something that was common, but Rommel did wonder what the point of it was.

"Bollocks!" he heard the pilot say. "Jerry just managed to hit General Alexander's HQ."