March 6th 1935, Imperial Supply base, Ypern
Valentin waited for the conference to end. From what he had heard, Lieutenant General Lemore had called for an emergency meeting, so every officer who commanded everything up from a Brigade was in there at the moment. The Federations counter attack had caught High Command by surprise and at the moment every Army Group had received orders to regroup while the reserves were mobilized. Valentin just hoped that there weren't any other surprises like that. He then looked at his pocket watch. 20 minutes already… he certainly wasn't of any use here so he might as well take a walk in the meantime…
If someone had observed the behavior of the troops, they probably wouldn't have guessed, that the Empire had almost lost half of its territorial gains already. It seems like Valentins doubts had been right. The troops of the United Kingdom of Edinburgh certainly had lived up to their reputation. During his time as military attache prior to the war, his Federation "colleagues" had praised the abilities of their troops, especially of the so called "Armoured Ranger Corps". He even received permission to observe a few mock-battles between a couple of Squads. From what he had seen, they seemed to be a rather well trained and disciplined force, for the most part. Valentin still thought that they had ulterior motives when they had offered him to watch them. Probably to show off. Or maybe they thought, it would convince him to desert. His mother had been a Federation officer during the first war, so maybe that helped a bit as well.
Valentin had found it pretty ironic how the "enemy" had treated him better because of that part of his heritage than his comrades back in the military academy. To be fair, there still had been a couple of comments regarding his father's role in the Imperial Invasion, as well as the expected distrust due to him being a potential spy, but it was nothing compared to his first year in the academy. Half the people disliked him because they thought he was just there due to his father's connections, the other half disliked him for being the son of a former Federation officer. Quite honestly, Valentin preferred gaining the little trust his federation peers had through attending dinners and talking about the theoretical possibilities of mountain warfare than what he had gone through in the academy…
After around five minutes, Valentin went back. Not much had changed, the two NCOs from the 4th Heavy Tank Brigade were still arguing about something and that Sergeant Major with the mustache was still searching for Lance Corporal Schallegger. Valentin had seen the him drinking with some Privates before the conference had started, but he certainly wasn't going to tell the mans superior officer about that. He walked down the hallway to the Officer's mess and entered. After taking a quick glance to see who was in, he decided to sit down next to Lieutenant Kehlers after he spotted him. Valentin now took a closer look at the other officers in the room. Two men from the navy, some infantry officers, a woman who he had seen a couple of times already and man from the airship-corps. From what he had heard, the woman had connections to the General Staff, which would explain why she was a First Lieutenant despite her age. If Valentin had to guess, he'd say that she was around 20. Not that he was any different in that regard, on paper his career was pretty impressive, after all…
Graduation from the military academy with 22, promotion to First Lieutenant and then Captain at ages 24 and 25 respectively, just two months later he was sent to the Federation as a military attaché, where he stayed for 19 months and then the promotion to Major when he returned four months ago. Valentin was well aware, that the sole reason for that were his father's connections to some high ranking officers, so he didnt even thought about bragging.
"Lieutenant Kehlers, why did you join the Army?" Valentin then asks. "Pardon?" The question seemed to have caught him by surprise."Let me rephrase that. What was your motivation to enlist?" "Oh. Well Major Martinek, there is no greater way to serve the Empire than defending it." Kehlers replied. "Why do you ask?" "Oh. Nothing important. I just want to know a bit more about the men i fight with." Valentin told him. "I see… why did you join, if i may ask?" Kehlers then asked. "Hm… well, i think it was mostly due to my father. He always talked about the war when i was younger. How great it was to fight alongside men you can depend on. I think that might have influenced my decision." Valentin said. Both men then remained silent. Valentin tried to think of a topic to keep the conversation alive. "Sooo…. Uhm… What do you think of the recent events?" "I would prefer to not talk about such a subject at the moment. Now, if you excuse me, i think i will check on my men." Kehlers replied as he stood up and made his way to the door. "Acknowledged." That certainly went well, Valentin thought to himself, while the other man left. He then looked around. The officers from the infantry probably wouldn't mind if he sat with them. Just as he was about to walk over to them, someone abruptly opened the door. Valentin turned his head to see who the new arrival was, when said person practically yelled. "You wont believe this! The 12th Regiment is here!" The man certainly sounded excited. Much to Valentins surprise, all of the infantry officers immediately stood up and left the room. Even the lone officer of the Airship-Corps stood up and was on his way out. "Pardon me Sir, but why is everyone so crazy about this 12th Regiment?" Valentin asked him. "They are just referring to the volunteers from Bergvin, the 12th Armoured Royal Cavalry Regiment. You haven't heard of them before?"