Warning: Rated for language, some violence and adult behavior.

The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.


In his dreams, General George Washington stood before him.

"Who Will Defend Liberty? Who Will Stand With Us?" he asked.

"Sir, I'm confused," Ulrich told the man, "why are you here, and why am I talking to you? I'm not an American."

"No, but you want to defend those you love," he replied, "I ask you again, will you Stand With Us?"

"Why? America's doing pretty well, I don't see any need to defend them."

"What about Europe? Look, son."

Washington pointed, and Ulrich saw a group of old women gathered together, talking and gossiping about anything and everything, paying absolutely no attention to what was going on around them. And all around them, assassins, all bearing the Eye of XANA, were creeping around them, preparing to murder them all.

"What about them? Will you defend them?"

"I will fight XANA, yes. I've been doing that for years now. But I don't know about them. They squabble almost as much here as they do in the real world."

The man smiled. "And what happens when they are gone?"

Suddenly the old women were gone, replaced by a figure in a dark hooded robe. He pointed and millions died. He then snapped his fingers and suddenly Jeremie, Aelita, Odd and Sissi were in the palm of his hand. They screamed as he slowly crushed the life from them, laughing as he did.

The dark figure motioned again, and Yumi appeared before him, his Love, his Life. He took her and began pulling her apart, slowly. Her screams reached down into his soul as he too was rent with her. Finally, the man loomed over Ulrich, ready to end him.

Washington then waved his hand, and a ring of stars formed around the dark man. He screamed as he vanished, foiled again. Then the old women returned and resumed their squabbling, surrounded by the ring of stars.

"I am not the representative of Liberty to just Americans," he said to Ulrich, "I am Liberty to all people. You just gave me this form. My question to you still stands, will you Stand With Us and Defend Liberty?"

"Yes sir, I will. I just don't know how."

"Yes you do, you just need to make the commitment."

General George Washington then faded, along with everything else in the dream. It all faded into a light blue haze, all but the circle of stars which still shone bright.


"Alright guys! Pull it together, they're coming!" Ulrich called out to his squad mates.

The other five boys in the squad quickly formed up in front of their doorways, waiting for the Commandant and Cadet Major. Today was an Inspection Day and just because their Squad Leader wasn't with them any more didn't change that.

Ulrich wasn't too surprised when he learned that Squad Leader Bensen was one of the Master Ralph followers, and not that he was their leader. There was always something about the boy that set Ulrich's teeth on edge. At first, he thought it was just a clash of personalities. Now he knew better.

But the squad leader's arrest had left the squad in a bind. Someone had to make sure they were ready for things like today's inspection, and the Commandant hadn't seen fit to assign a new squad leader yet. So Ulrich took it upon himself to handle things like this.

The rest of the squad grumbled at first, but he said if any of them wanted to do it, fine by him, just speak up. The silence was deafening. From then on, Ulrich led them through squad functions as best he could, and the squad followed.

Everyone was pulled into the here and now by he voice of the Cadet Major.

"Attention! Stand by for Inspection!"

The Cadet Major stepped into the squad area, took a step to the side, then snapped to attention and saluted. Then the Commandant stepped in. He looked about the common area and at the cadets. He walked up to each one of them, looked them over thoroughly, then entered their dorm room. He would walk out then make a comment to the Cadet Major, who wrote them down.

"Beds made, but not to specs. Locker disorganized. Dust on the window sill."

He repeated this for every member of the squad, saving Ulrich and Dexter for last. He eyed Ulrich for what seemed like an eternity, then moved to Dexter. He then went in their room, looked about, and left without saying a word. Ulrich and Dexter smiled inside.

The Commandant then returned to the squad bay entrance and turned around.

"Men, very good. I see a lot of improvement here. Keep up the good work."

"Attention! Salute!" called out the Cadet Major. The squad snapped to and saluted.


"Ulrich, where are you heading? I thought you had to study with the Commandant?" Dexter called out to him after his last class of the day.

"I do, but he gave me a homework assignment yesterday," Ulrich told his roommate, "I'm supposed to go down to the Common Room and check out the schools that are visiting today. He wants me to bring him a list of schools I might like and we would discuss them."

"Schools?" Dex said, perplexed.

"Colleges, I mean," Ulrich replied, "a bunch of colleges are on campus. I've never paid much attention to them, thinking I would either go on a soccer scholarship or I wouldn't go at all. In he end, I decided I wouldn't go at all, given my grades."

"So what made you change your mind?"

"Nothing, yet. My grades got me here, and the Commandant won't let me slack off a bit," Ulrich said, "I only have a vague idea of what I want to do with my life, so I'll go and check these schools out. Maybe something will come to me."


The Common Room was abuzz with activity. A lot of juniors, and some seniors, were all around, talking to the college representatives, getting information on the schools. Ulrich looked around at the myriad of choices and was lost; he didn't even know where to begin.

Pick a side and start walking, Yumi's voice came to him. He knew it wasn't his imagination, for she mentally wrapped her arms around him and hugged him, giving him just a little courage to carry on. I was overwhelmed when I started looking, she sent to him, it wasn't until weeks later that I even settled on a school. Just take a look around, something will pop up.

Ulrich picked a direction and started walking. He looked at every school, picking up a brochure, then moving along. At some tables, something caught his eye and he would talk to the representative for a bit, finding out more about the school. Then he would move on.

Ulrich had visited about two thirds of the schools there that day when a small banner caught his eye:

Who Will Stand With Us?

The picture behind the caption showed a group of soldiers, standing at attention, with the flag of the European Union as a background.

"Can I help you son?" the man behind the table asked. He was a soldier himself, but not French or German or even United Nations or NATO. He had on a different uniform, one that matched the ones in the picture.

"I know what you're thinking," the man then said, "and you're right. I'm with the European Union Combined Armed Forces. We were established with the EU as a combined military for the Union. We're still a small force, and we're looking for recruits. Think you might be interested?"

"I don't know," Ulrich replied, "I've never heard of you. What do you do?"

"Right now, not much, I'm afraid," the man said, "mostly supporting roles in member countries, backfilling jobs so the national troops can be freed up to do other things. But one thing we are taking the forefront on is counter terrorism."

"What?"

"Counter terrorism. There's a lot of people in the world that don't like our way of life, and are willing to kill thousands of people at a time to let the world know. You've seen the news haven't you? Well, the EU Combined Armed Forces is here to tell them we don't like them killing our citizens, to take their ball of hate and go play somewhere else, like Hell. And we're looking for people who feel the same way, that are willing to put it on the line to stop these people. Sound interesting to you?"

Ulrich smiled, "yes, actually it does. Tell me more."


The next day, Ulrich sat in the Commandant's office for his normal study session. The first thing Commandant Krieger asked for was the boy's list of school possibilities. Ulrich handed what he had to the man, and he now sat there and reviewed it.

"Your choices are interesting, Stern," the Commandant began, "I'm kinda surprised you didn't include any American schools on your list. I know a few were in attendance yesterday, including the one your girlfriend is attending."

"Sir, let's face it, I have a snowball's chance of getting into any of these colleges with my grades, no matter how well I do here," Ulrich replied, "and besides, there's no way my parents will pay to send me overseas. I'm not even sure how I would pay for college here if I got in."

"Like everybody else, student loans," Krieger said, "the one thing that really intrigues me is your final option. What made you put down the EU Armed Forces?"

"I kinda like what they want to do, fight terrorists and all that," Ulrich said, "let's say I need to be one of the ones to help stop that kind of thing."

"Why?"

"It's hard to explain, but terrorism has touched my life, and the lives of my friends for a while now."

"Well, that certainly never made it into your files. And it certainly didn't make it into the police's files, I checked when you enrolled. It would be interesting if you could elaborate on that."

"I wish I could Commandant, but I can't. And you probably wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Well, I certainly can't say that the military life isn't a bad one. I retired after 30 years in the military, both before and after the Wall fell. It can be a hard and demanding life, but it can be a good life too. If you want to go that route, I'll do everything I can to help you."

"Thank you, sir," Ulrich said, "I'd appreciate that."

After Ulrich left, Heinrich picked up the phone and dialed.

"Hello, Michael Belpois? Heinrich Krieger at Ravensbrook. Yes, I'm fine, and you? Good. I wanted to call and let you know that Ulrich is looking to join the EU Combined Armed Forces. Well, I'm glad you're pleased, I'm pleasantly surprised by it too. Cadet Stern has been a very surprising student here so far. No, the parents haven't contacted him since they booted him out at the curb. I think Mr. Stern tried to contact one of the students here, but that student got himself expelled. I agree, the foolishness of youth. Yes, I'll keep in touch, either with you or Mr. Hopper."


That night, before Lights Out, Ulrich lay in bed looking at the brochures he had gotten, particularly the one from the EU Combined Armed Forces. There was something about it that looked so right. Whenever he looked at it, something told him this is the place. Ulrich looked at the card the recruiter gave him and considered calling him back. He got the shock of his life when he saw the name on the card:

Lt. Georges Washington, EUCAF