Melpomene
Part Two: Rendevous with Schubaltz





"Your zoids are ready for departure." A hangar technician saluted O'Connell, causing the teal-haired officer to jump. "S-sir?"

"Oh, it's nothing." O'Connell looked at the technician with a smile on his face. "Don't worry about it, as you were."

"Yes, sir. Shall I inform Col. Hermann?"

"I'll inform him myself."

The technician saluted and walked off into the hallway, O'Connell breathed a sigh of relief as Hermann pulled himself from behind the barrels of fuel. He gave the teal-haired captain a peck on the cheek and smiled. "We shouldn't keep Schubaltz waiting..."

The Storm Sworder and Shield Liger were waiting for them when they got there, so were half a dozen troops for patrol. O'Connell hopped into the shiny, sleek Storm Sworder and buckled himself in. Hermann looked up at the white and blue Shield Liger, admiring it for all its' worth. "A Shield Liger Mk-II... spiffy." He got inside and buckled himself in, just as an image appeared on his comlink. It was President Camford, she was looking chipper this evening.

"We'll be meeting the Imperial 1st Panzer Division at Triangle Pass, which is five miles southwest. From then on out, we'll be patrolling the region until sometime early the next morning, ma'am."

"I wanted to tell you good luck, Col. Hermann..."

"Thank-you, ma'am."

"Also I wanted to tell you that you have company waiting for you when you get back."

"Who is it?"

"You'll know when you get back. Good luck, Colonel."

"Yes, ma'am. Move out, men." The hangar doors opened and the Shield Liger tromped out, followed by the Storm Sworder taking off into the air. The white Command Wolves were close behind, Hermann adjusted his collar and looked up at the slowly moving Storm Sworder.

"Enjoying the view, O'Connell?"

"Yes, sir." O'Connell smirked and looked around at the scenary.

"Didn't I hear that Col. Schubaltz has a new second-in-command, or am I hearing things?"

"You're not hearing things, sir. I heard he did also. Some nice looking guy named Leon. He was supposed to be an Imperial Major but there's speculation that he's not really an officer for the Imperial army."

"Spy, you mean?"

"Dunno, sir. What I also heard afterward that the Black Knight suddenly vanished..."

//Good riddens.// Hermann thought to himself, a somewhat relieved look on his face. //The Black Knight was getting to be a major nuissance...//

"Also patrolling with us is Lt. Thomas Schubaltz of Guardian Force." O'Connell reminded his commanding officer, a smile on his face.

"That little goof-ball is traveling with us?"

"Yes... seems that way."

"Anyone else I should know about?"

"No, that's it, sir."

"Good... wake me when we get to Triangle Pass." Hermann closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. His mind raced with images of the night before, the first night alone with O'Connell. Their naked, sweaty bodies entwined into the throes of love and sex. O'Connell calling his name in the heat of passion, his fingernails sinking into Hermann's muscular pectoral muscles, almost breaking the skin. Hermann was sound asleep, the fog was starting to develope around the patrol battalion. Triangle Pass was also called the Pass of Fog because it was foggy 89% of the time, the fog was always very dense. The troops stopped as the Storm Sworder landed nearby, but the Shield Liger kept going.

"Should someone wake him up?"

"Colonel Hermann?" O'Connell spoke over the comlink. "Sir, you're entering the fog, sir."

Hermann was dead to the world, until everyone heard an iron-sounding THUD. The blonde Republican officer was jarred from his sleep, seeing a massive iron hand stopping the Shield Liger. He saw the hand was very similiar of that of an Iron Kong's hand, then a familiar face spoke on the comlink.

"Never sleep and drive, Colonel Hermann."

"Colonel Schubaltz??" Hermann yawned, then eased his feet off the controls. He got back into the swing of things and backed up, the zoid that stopped him was in fact the Iron Kong Mk-II. "Sorry, didn't see you there."

"It's alright." Schubaltz yawned as well, it was indeed a tiring night. "We been waiting for you for nearly 2 hours."

"2 hours??" O'Connell asked, curious.

"Ja." Schubaltz looked at the second comlink. "Didn't you get the memo that we were supposed to me you here at 1700 hours?"

"Shit." Hermann cursed. "Our briefings officer told us to meet you here at 1900 hours."

"That boy needs to be bludgeoned to death." A suave voice spoke over the comlinks. The pilot was a very handsome young man with bluish-grey hair and wearing a black Imperial uniform. His thin glasses shined in the light of the lights of the cockpit.

"At ease, Mjr Aethelwulf." Schubaltz looked at his companion with a smile on his face. "Well, we should be off and patrolling."

"Yes, sir."

Hermann and O'Connell saw from within the fog, a black König Wolf emerged from the fog next to the Iron Kong Mk-II. It was Mjr. Aethelwulf's zoid definately. The patroling party walked through the wastelands of the area, their tired eyes peeled to the road ahead. O'Connell combing the area in the Storm Sworder ofcourse. Aethelwulf turned on his comlink to Schubaltz and in German, he spoke.

"Die zwei Kommandanten scheinen, zu sein wenig, der für Soldaten so genauer als Normal ist."
[Translation: The two commanders seem to be a little closer than normal for soldiers like this.]

"Wir erhielten die gleichen Stares, Leon. Aber jeder respektiert Sie als fähiger Soldat."
[Translation: We got the same stares, Leon. But everyone respects you as an able soldier.]

"Aber jeder in der imperialen Armee kennt mein größtes Geheimnis. Mommy weiß, daß ihr Soldatsohn homosexuell ist?"
[Translation: But everyone in the Imperial army knows my biggest secret. Does mommy know that her soldier son is homosexual?]

"Wissen Sie nicht. Bitten Sie nicht."
[Translation: Don't know. Don't ask.]

"Vertrauen Sie mir, Karl. Ich habe Weisen, dieses herauszufinden."
[Translation: Trust me, Karl. I have ways to find this out.]

"Kümmern Sie sich nicht prüfen sie, Leon. Schlechtes für Presse."
[Translation: Don't mind probe them, Leon. Bad for PR.]

"Hmph... Verderben Sie meinen Spaß, wird Sie, meine kleine Pussykatze?"
[Translation: Spoil my fun, will you, my little pussycat?]

"Ich bin so kalt. Aber das ist, warum Sie mich lieben."
[Translation: I'm cold that way. But that's why you love me.]

"Yes..." Leon grinned, adjusting his glasses with his middle finger.

"Hey, English, people." Hermann interupted them over the comlinks. "Share the love."

"No." That was Leon's immediate response, which got a chuckle from the Imperials.

For three hours there was no a person or zoid in sight, that's when the patrol got to a quaint little village. The Storm Sworder landed next to the Shield Liger, O'Connell getting out from behind the helm. The villagers greeted them despite the early morning wake-up call. The innkeeper's cooks cooked the troops some food, Schubaltz, Thomas, Leon, Hermann and O'Connell were enjoying a good brewsky with their large meal.

"Commune with us, Karl. Share with us some of your toilet humor." Hermann finally broke the silence.

"Hadn't got any new ones since the last patrol." Schubaltz drank from the stein and wiped his mouth with his arm.

"Damn."

Leon finished eating, but to Hermann and O'Connell's surprise, he ate very little. He only asked for some lamb and eggs and some of the finest wine. Thomas spoke up from eating, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "I got one."

He cleared his throat and sipped his stein. "A blonde woman stops behind a truck, gets out and runs to the door of the truck, tapping on the window. She says 'Mister, you're losing your load'. The truck driver ignores her and keeps going. The blonde follows and at the next red light, she does it again. 'hey mister, you're losing your load'. The truck driver ignores her again and keeps going. This happens like five or six times until the truck driver tells her the next time 'Look, lady... this is a salt truck!'"

"That's so low..." Hermann snickered, followed by O'Connell.

"What do you call a blonde after she dyes her hair brown?" Schubaltz responded to the joke.

"What?"

"Artificial intelligence."

The table busted into laughter, Schubaltz sipped his stein, smirking. The excitement in the inn died down, when they knew they were alone, Hermann and O'Connell turned to look at each other. Thomas patted his brother on the shoulder and pointed to the upstairs. "I'm gonna take 40 winks before we move out."

"Alright."

Thomas walked upstairs, yawning, leaving Schubaltz and Leon alone with Hermann and O'Connell.

"May I ask a personal question?" Hermann directed his attention to Schubaltz and Leon.

"Yes, if it's tasteful."

"Wherever did you find Mjr. Aethelwulf? He looks too damned sexy to be an Imperial officer. And are you two... you know."

Leon came back to those comments with one of his own. "Are you two fucking each other?"

O'Connell buried his face in his hands, blushing and Hermann was left with a dumbfounded look on his face. Schubaltz nudged Leon harshly, then pointed to the door. The two Imperials walked out of the inn, leaving the Republican officers to themselves.

"H-how did he know about us?"

"I don't know." Hermann pulled O'Connell close with one arm, kissing his forehead. His fingers stroked O'Connell's teal-hair back as he kissed his forehead again and again. They soon were kissing each other, O'Connell's hands clung to the clothing on Hermann's back.

"I hope to the Gods that Aethelwulf doesn't say a word to anyone about this. Otherwise, it'll take more than Col. Schubaltz to peel me offa his dead carcus."



Outside on the porch of the inn, Schubaltz and Leon were talking. "Leon, did you...?"

"I didn't read their minds. I didn't have to. It's in their eyes, the expression in their faces. It's not that hard to miss."

Schubaltz narrowed his eyes, then he looked in the window. He turned toward his second-in-command and in a low voice, he told: "Honestly, I saw it too... it's not that hard to miss. Hermann does not exactly have a poker face."

"If he's going to hide it from his mother, he needs to work on keeping a straight face."

"Ditto."

"Come... let's get some shut-eye..." Leon kissed Schubalts's forehead and winked. "We got a few hours to kill, ya know."

"Oh yeah." Schubaltz followed the really handsome man as he found another place to sleep.




-Continued-