One
General de Graeft reclined in his chair a little as he held up the typed memorandum closer to his eyes. The afternoon sunlight beamed through the window from behind him which provided a great reading light. He had but only a few minutes to spare for himself after the Review Board, the second meeting in the morning took longer than planned as the Colonels discussed an after-action report regarding a skirmish of Gallian and Imperial Armor units. The Gallian Army had begun to review and study the reports of armored engagements throughout the past conflicts in an effort to develop a new doctrine; 'Spearpoint' as some of his Colonels dubbed it.
His desk was in a perpetual state of mess. The General's pen holder and reading lamp were the only distinguishable features in the sea of papers and folders. Beyond his door laid his General Staff, a crew of officers of various ranks working around the clock to manage the smaller affairs of an army, now and then his Adjutant would come in to present documents that required his signature and approval. De Graeft secretly loathed the position given to him by the Archduchess but he could not turn it away; officework was never his strong suit for he always left it to his Aides and Deputy.
A quick two knocks was heard on his door, his eyes darted from the memorandum to the window at his door. He spotted his Adjutant opening the door, the noise of muffled conversations and typewriters furiously clacking away became just a little louder. The Adjutant took a few steps in, allowing Colonel Ruyter to follow; his left hand holding a brown leather suitcase.
De Graeft dropped the memo he was proofreading back into the sea of papers, he was bound to revisit it once his Adjutant reminded him of it for perhaps the third time. He leaned against his desk, arms resting atop of it.
'Sir, Colonel Ruyter. Your calendar is cleared for the rest of the day at your request.' the quick-lipped Adjutant added,
'Thank you Major. I'll..' De Graeft's eyes quickly scanned the surface of his desk in a searching mode, 'I'll be sure to return the orders to you before you leave today.' his fingers deftly procuring a red folder from underneath the paper layer, placing it atop the other forms of now lower priority. How he hated staff work.
'Yes sir.' the Adjutant replied, giving his General a quick bow of his head before retreating from his office, the door shutting behind him, the noise of the office work now quieted to leave the two officers alone.
'Take a seat, Michael.' De Graeft offered as he gestured his hand to one of two cushioned chairs that were set before him.
Colonel Ruyter nodded and took upon his offer, the leather squeaking as he assumed his seat. Colonel Michael Ruyter stood a head taller than his other peers, a lanky person with thinly framed eyeglasses resting atop his nose. His golden blonde hair was kept neat with a part on the right side of his head, his hair seemed to have shimmered in the sunlight before him. Ruyter was among the newest wave of commanders personally selected by the Archduchess, along with General De Graeft.
His collection of medals paled in comparison to his General, but spoke of his impressive tenure in the Gallian Army. Like De Graeft, he was also a combat tested leader from both Europan wars; a recipient of the Crimson Heart for wounds sustained while leading his former battalion in Naggiar against Imperial forces. Ruyter's specialty was in mobile warfare, being one of the earliest advocates of its implementation right after the First Europan War.
"I'm sure you must have been screaming in your mind during the Board earlier, Mike." De Graeft commented with a smirk.
The Colonel couldn't help but scoff and laugh, shaking his head a little, "The Old Guards are still convinced that grandly drawn battle lines with trenches will stop the Imperial waves, sir. It'll take.. time and some convincing for them to understand proper maneuver."
The General could not help but crack the lightest of smiles, "We'll see with them during The Maneuvers this year." Leaning to the side of his desk, he reached for one of the bottom drawers, an audible 'click' may be heard, an indicator that the compartment was under lock.
Picking up what appears to be a leathery binder with a label reading 'SECRET' in dark red lettering on the cover, he places it before himself and opening to the first page.
'I did not have much chance to review much of this before now, but it is still strange the Federation is offering this so openly. Quite the olive branch.' De Graeft commented as he started to go through some of the first few pages that he first reviewed.
'Maybe one of many ways their military wants to atone for their support to the GRA, but regardless of their intentions, I'm expected to receive more from their intelligence service that will provide us invaluable data.' Colonel Ruyter said, leaning down to fish out a small, battered booklet from his suitcase.
'There's more? What more could they have done? These..snow-cruisers are already something to behold.' De Graeft paused his idle page flipping to look back up to him in a slight degree of surprise. From De Graeft's initial review of Colonel Ruyter's findings, he was absolutely amazed at the Federation's ability to create such a technological marvel. A fleet capable of traversing the harshest terrain in an effort to decisively strike against the head of a snake. His own assessment after reading of it was it was immensely ambitious, he was truly impressed at how they did indeed reach the very capital and provoked the ceasefire.
'That I don't know sir, but I'm keen to see what all else they had for this operation. For now though, they've forwarded us the effects that were confirmed to have belonged to Gallians that served on the Cavalier.' Ruyter's hand that held the booklet extended before him to place it onto the General's desk.
'I noticed that. Somewhere in your write-up when I first saw it. A good number of them were organized into a unit on that ship, have we their names?.' General De Graeft spoke as he reached for the booklet laid before him. Gallians leaving to join the Federation forces was commonplace during the Second Europan War, many of them wishing to bring the fight to the Imperial forces for what they inflicted on their homeland during their invasion.
'Only from what we extracted from that journal. I had my staff run the transcription and they're here.' Ruyter said as he produced a packet that contained the journal entries that were legible.
De Graeft noticed the frail nature of the booklet as he picked it up, his thumbs slowly opening up to the first page. The journal had seen better days, its pages were crusted with water damage, the once stiff cover softened to the point where the wind could crumble it. The cursive writing on the back of the cover was still legible:
NOTEBOOK, FIELD ISSUE
NAME: AMBROSE VON ROSEN
RANK: Capt GrpLhr
UNIT: 371ST DGN Rg. (GALLIAN)
ADDRESS: 23d Hennings Str. Albrechtzadt
