Quartermaster Letova's View
She was lying in the bed watching the countryside go by. It was times like this that she would commonly think about battles she fought in and battles that'll come. But as of now, she'd allow herself to just relax. At least, she would relax if she couldn't stop thinking about Volkov. The longer she thought about why she said she loved him only made her blush harder. She could tell from the old pocket mirror she always carried. She simply couldn't get him out of her head and it was messing with her. 'I shouldn't be thinking about this, not only are we of different races, but if someone hears I have a crush on him then we'd both be targets for capture as a way to get the other,' she thought as she stared out the window. 'I've had other sweethearts... they've all left me for one reason or another. Some reasonable, some not. But Volkov... simply thinking about him is messing with me". The countryside passed by as the minutes dragged on. She felt tired, probably from her body trying to heal her injuries, and slowly her eye shut as she fell asleep.
Sergeant Volkov's view
He awoke with a yawn, his eyes sighting the lowering sun in the background as the train still chugs on. How long was he asleep? Wait, when did he even fall asleep? He looked around him only to see soldiers in various degrees of awake or sleeping. He decided to get off the seat and slowly, trying not to wake his sleeping soldiers, moved to the door to the seventh carriage. As he opened the door and walked in between the carriages he swore he saw something in the distance however the fast-moving train made it impossible to properly see it. Volkov shrugged before heading into the carriage proper. As he headed into it, he saw a small table with some pigeons and a deer playing pokers.
"Doctor, medics, may I know where Quartermaster Letova is roomed?"
"Oh," a younger-looking pigeon said, "She's in room 106, last one".
Volkov turned and walked the short distance before he reached room 106, he took a small glance to the right of him. A door leading to the outside was the only thing to the right of him, 'It really is the last one huh,' he thought as his hand clasped on the doorknob. Carefully, he opened the door, the room was decent for a train. it was clearly meant for only one person or a couple at max, and there on the bed laid Letova. He could feel his heart race, it actually worried him as the only times he felt his heart race as fast as this was when he was in combat. He tried to push those thoughts away as he sat on the chair next to her bed. He quickly noticed that she was sleeping.
He sighed as he gently caressed her head, she'd been ragging herself essentially since the civil war began. She barely delegates any of her duties and is the only reason why any major campaign happens. This was fine during the beginning of the war when campaigns were short and rare, but now if a larger then average group of soldiers decide to attack the KSR while we were on campaign then we'd be screwed. But... that hasn't happened yet, has it? It seems like none of the other major powers seem to think that idea. From the little they know of the enemy powers, the Longcoats is lead by just one man, Bellefide, the only "second in command" being some kind of cook that's barely talked about. The Commonfolk is lead by Hopper, a peasant girl who thinks herself as some kind of democratic hero, all while having more connections to mob bosses then you could shake a stick at. And the civilized? Volkov audibly groaned at the thought of that band of priests. They were technically their allies, but it wouldn't surprise him if they betrayed us at any moment. They were also the main reason why Bellefide rose up and caused what was a simple revolt against a band of commoners into an actual war between a rich noble and his commonfolk allies and a dead Tsarina's secret police and their priestly "allies".
He took one last look at the sleeping mouse and sighed, "Take a good night dea-" He stopped himself before he finished that word. He could feel a small warmth on his face. "Haha... you make me flustered even when asleep don't you?" Volkov got up and started to head back out of the cabin before noting that there's a window showing the back of the train. 'Odd,' he thought as he look through the window, 'normally there aren't these kinds of windo- what the devil is that?' He could see something quickly approaching, it was obviously flying fast but he couldn't get a good look at it... He immediately brought up the binoculars that he always keeps in his bag and looked into it . It was a falcon, that much was clear, the small Gatling gun underneath made it clear it was a soldier but the next sight sent him sprinting out the cabin.
"LONGCOATS!" He screamed down the hall, he could hear the animals at the poker table suddenly getting up and he could see the deer doctor opening the door to carriage six and alerting the soldiers in it. He, himself, unholstered his pistol and took position next to the door leading to the outside, and opened the window. He quickly aim his pistol out the window and waited until the falcons came closer, all while that older-looking squirrel ran up to him with a long rifle and started to use the open window as a brace before taking a shot at the closest falcon. It was a hit, but Volkov quickly noted that the falcons immediately started to take random flight patterns to make further shots harder. 'Shit, they didn't know we saw them, we shou-' His thoughts were cut off as he heard the door to room 106 being slid open. "Hey!" Volkov said as he turned around only to see the soldier opening the door receive a barrage of bullets from inside the room. Another soldier behind the dead one took position next to the open door before peeking inside the room and ducking away as another barrage of bullets flowed from the room. "There's a falcon in there sir!" the soldier said as back slightly away from the open door.
Volkov patted the squirrel with the long rifle and said, "Keep firing on the falcons incoming, We'll take care of the one in here!" A quiet confirmation is all that Volkov needs before repositioning to the door. "Say," he looked to the soldier parallel from him, "do what you did again, that is an order!"
The soldier's face pales before he nods and carefully moves towards the door before peaking and then jumping away as another barrage of bullets, this time breaking the door frame where the soldier's head was, flowed from the room only for Volkov to peek his head out, take aim at the only falcon, and fire his pistol. The shot rings true and the bird falls dead which is when he notices that someone is trying to drag the Quartermaster's tired body out the window. "HEY! LET HER GO!" He screams as he fires his pistol, trying to hit the hands holding Letova. The bullets miss due to Volkov trying not to hit Letova.
He rushes over to the open window, and as he managed to grab onto the Quartermaster's jacket, he starts to open fire his pistol at the form holding her body. Only then he realizes that the form is a rather large boar on the back of a flatbed truck. 'How the hell did a flatbed truck managed to get so close to the train without anyone realizing?' He thought as three bullets went into the boar only for the most terrifying thing any soldier could hear, the click of their empty gun. He dropped his gun and started to use both hands to try and pull Letova back from the now wounded boar. "SOMEONE GET IN HERE AND HELP ME!" He ordered as he continued to try to pull Letova. Thankfully, as his muscles started to strain from the tug of war, one of his soldiers enter the room, dropped his rifle, and attempted to help pull Letova. "Use your fucking rifle! Kill the boar!" Volkov screamed at the soldier who then picked back up his rifle and opened fire at the boar from almost point-blank range. The first shot hits the right shoulder, the second hits him in the chest and the boar falls on his back, letting go of Letova.
Volkov pulled Letova back from the window, and it was only then did he actually realize that she is utterly terrified. He quickly sat her down on the floor as the soldier at the window took potshots at the retreating truck. "Letova, hey, hey, calm down," He desperately tried to calm down the terrified woman. Rather suddenly, she started to hug him. Volkov suddenly stopped talking as simply hugged her back. 'What the hell was he doing? What the hell was she doing? This is the same woman who charges into machine-gun fire without fear and she... being pulled through a window by an enemy that'd likely eat her would drive most into terror. The fact she was dangling over train tracks likely doesn't help.' Volkov started to rock Letova back and forth until he started to realize he was being watched by one of his soldiers. "Hey!" He said as he got up, "Take that falcon and the dead squirrel and store them! I and the Quartermaster need to talk for a minute," the soldier looks down at the falcon before picking it up and dragging it out of the room. Volkov closes the door before heading back to the now slightly calmer mouse and kneeling next to her. "Ma'am, are you alright? Do you need any help?"
She just looks at Volkov, "W-well, you know, I'm perfectly fine! Just was having a nightmare, then I was woken up to pistol fire, and then I was dragged out of bed by longcoats! I was then put in the hands of a boar that could kill me by twitching, and then there was a bloody tug of war over me while I was at risk of falling out of a moving train! Other then that, I'm perfectly fine!"
Volkov couldn't keep it in, he just started to laugh as Letova stared at him in shocked amazement before she also started to laugh as well before she clutched her chest. "Oh by the Tree... did anyone see us hugging?"
"Well, just a single soldier but I told him to go get the corpses and get them ready for butchering back at the kitchens, other then that, no one ma'am. Are you alright?" Volkov's voice was full of concern as he watched Letova clutch her chest.
"No, I'm bloody not. I just need to get a x-ray then I can get my bloody ribs better," she said as her hand still clutched her chest.
"Alright, do you need to be alon-" Volkov gets cut off before he even finishes the word.
"NO!" The force of her voice surprised Volkov, "Just... stay with me... I don't want to be alone..."
"I..." Volkov mulls over the idea, "Of course, ma'am. I'll stay by your side, cmon ma'am. You need to lay in bed".
Volkov, as gently as possible, moves Letova to the bed. "Just take a rest, I'll be here".
Letova simply laid back down in the bed and closed her eyes, "Please... don't leave me".
Volkov looked down at the small form of Letova, "Of course, ma'am," As he looked at the quickly falling asleep mouse, he promised to himself that no matter what, he'd keep her safe.