BOOK I - UNION
Chapter 6 : Backdoor Negotiations
March 21 (D + 8)
"Time to wake up people, come on chip chop!" I banged on the door on the way in my room where the two girls were sleeping.
"Huh? What time is it?" Asami muttered under the blankets.
"Eight in the morning, we got a lot of things to be done today." I replied. "Breakfast's already on the table. Remember, the meeting's at nine." I tapped the door once more before exiting the room.
With the apartment having two rooms only and one already occupied by my parents, we decided that both Asami and Korra sleep in my room with whoever is going to sleep on the bed up to the girls which by the way was Asami. Me and Walter on the other hand slept on the couches of the living room, uncomfortable but far better than sleeping in a ditch.
I got to the dining table and sat down beside Walter who had just started eating. There was bread, peanut butter and jelly, and a few pieces of ham. We also had chocolate milk shakes and coffee prepared as drinks. Me and Walter prepared them as my parents slept since they're pretty old to get up that early.
Korra and Asami got out of the room several minutes later already changed from the night gowns my mom let them borrow to the clothes they bought yesterday. Sitting down, they started eating with the room falling in silence.
"Hey wanna watch some news?" Walter asked.
"Yeah sure go ahead, the remote for the tv is over there." I replied.
He stood up and went over to the small coffee table between the couches and the television and after finding the remote, turned the tv on and switch to the first news channel he saw... CNN.
"Damn, Lee Kwan Yew died earlier today."
"The Singaporean prime minister?"
"Yeah, 91 when he died, pneumonia I think."
"Who's that on the... what do you call it, the tv?" Korra took another bite n the piece of bread.
"That's Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of a small country called Singapore, in fifty years he transformed the small island - country from a developing, poor nation into an economic powerhouse. Its like transforming a small fishing village into a giant vibrant city." I replied.
"I see, he's a great man then."
"Yeah."
"Hey can I ask you a question?" Asami asked.
"Yeah surer, that's why I'm here." I smiled.
"Okay, well this 'Mandarin' language of yours... its the same as the one we use. We in fact also call it the common language since everyone in our world knows it. I was wondering, how old is Mandarin?"
"Hmm, as far as I could remember off the top of my head, I think maybe three or four thousand years old, but the early forms of writing arn't the same as we have today. The writing slowly evolved from pictographs into what we can now see through thousands of years."
"Ah" Asami slowly nodded. "Ours, well... nobody really knows. When Korra saw through the life of Avatar Wan, the first avatar, they were already using the common language though she didn't saw any writings, and it was ten thousand years ago!"
"Yeah, with the weird lion turtles... was Korra sure she wasn't just dreaming?" I gulped down my cup of coffee.
"Hey I've told you before I can connect with my past lives, well could anyways." Korra frowned but after taking another sip at the chocolate milk, lighten up again.
"Yeah with the reincarnation things, we also have that belief here but it doesn't work, HERE. You guys got separate rules of the natural world huh."
The room fell into silence and a moment later Walter turned the tv off.
"Well." I said. "If you guys are done call me, I'm going to take a dump. Its going to take about ten minutes to walk over to the place so yeah, don't want to be late." I quickly got to the restroom and glanced at my watch. Eight ten, still got a lot of time.
"General Iroh, good to see you again!" Korra remarked as we entered a small room.
"Yes Korra, nice to see you too." Iroh replied.
General Braun, Iroh and Haoyung were already sitting on the chairs waiting. The room was supposed to be some kind of waiting room for us to wait for the VIPs to arrive. (Politicians.)
"So corporal, how did the first day go?" General Braun asked.
"Eh." I sat down on the chair beside him. "It was okay I guess."
"Ah." The general stroke his chin. "Well today's going to be a good day for you." That sounds ominous.
"Uh huh... sir."
The door creaked open and a blonde haired woman entered, she was wearing a business suit and holding a clipboard. "General Braun the chancellor is ready to meet the guests." Chancellor, really? Oh man all the way to the top huh.
"Alright fraulein." The general turned to me. "Well corporal, can you tell our guests about it?"
"Ah, yes sir." I stood up and walked over towards Iroh where they've been talking with each other, presumably about whatever they have so far experienced. "Excuse me, our chancellor is ready to meet you."
"Very well, thank you." Iroh stood up and walked over to general Braun. "Shall we go then?"
I quickly translated.
"Ah yes yes lets go." He went over to the woman and whispered something wherein the girl nodded. "Alright Geraldt see you later, you have another appointment to make."
I got confused. "Sir? I though I was going to translate for you."
"Nah, they've got someone in there to do that, you got other things to do now." He winked at me.
General Braun, Iroh, Korra, Asami, and Haoyung moved out and got into the room beside where we are leaving me, Walter, and the lady behind.
"Corporal, please wait here for a moment." She said, then getting out of the room.
"Well this is... fun. We'll need to wait for a whole day right?" Walter remarked.
"Yeah, you know how those meeting go, they'll talk for a whole day with nothing accomplished." I sat back down on one of the chairs. "Well, at least I've got some shitty games on my phone to pass the time."
"Yes sir. Shitty games it is then." Walter laughed as he sat down opposite of me and also took his phone out.
The lady came back over an hour later with a man in a suite carrying a small briefcase accompanying her. "Corporal Tchaikovsky, Private Ruderford."
"Yes?" The both of us stood up.
"Good morning gentlemen, I'm Captain Ernst from the Militärischer Abschirmdienst which, if you have been living under a rock, is our nation's military intelligence. I'm here to present to you your promotions from General Braun of the Twenty First Panzer Brigade." He took out two folders from his briefcase and handed them to us.
"Promotion? Really? What... what had we done?" I read through the papers still in disbelief.
"The general said that this would be a 'field promotion' for your exceptional service at the front lines... you know, the new one we have just opened." He grinned. Does intelligence agents really fucking creepy?
"So... I'm a sergeant now?"
"Yes you are sergeant, and your friend here is now Corporal Ruderford." He then packed up his briefcase. "Oh and by the way General Braun told me to tell you that there would be a 'capability demonstration' tomorrow with our guests as special observers. Meeting place at the lobby of this building at oh seven hundred hours."
"Demonstration of what?" I asked.
"Oh you know, the normal things... tanks... choppers... that sort of stuff." He saluted us with a smile. "Good day to you gentlemen." and walked out of the room.
Lady was still standing there as me and Walter looked at each other dumbfounded. After a few seconds of silence she spoke up. "Well boys you want something to drink? The meeting's going to last the whole day you know."
"Oh, uh yeah. Some hot chocolate seems nice... for the both of us... me and the 'sergeant'" Walter replied elbowing my arm.
"That took a whole day, damn am I tired Asami." Korra mumbled as they got into the room me and Walter were in. "Hey, so how are you guys?"
"We got promoted!" I said excitedly.
"Really? That's nice." She patted me on the back. "Good to see something good came out of it for you guys too."
"So, we going back to your house now?" Asami said. "I'm quite tired after that meeting."
"Yeah, that was what? Eight hours?"
"More or less, at least we had a lunch break though."
"Hmm, well lets go then." I got up from the chair and made my way to the door. "Where's Iroh and Haoyung?"
"They left already with your general, apparently they still have much to discuss. They also said something about a demonstration tomorrow?" Asami followed behind me.
"Yeah, its uh military demonstration you see."
"Ah, showing off your hardwares huh?" We made it to the elevator and she pressed the down button. "How much are you going to show off?"
"No idea, didn't tell me."
"Hmm okay."
"Hey I've got a question!" Korra remarked. "What's Star Wars? I've read that yesterday but didn't have the time to ask you about it. The explanation wasn't clear, it was like some kind of space thing?"
My bored face suddenly lit up as the elevator arrived. "Star Wars! Yes yes yes yes, space, all about space! Its a movie... just like your movers."
The elevator reached the ground floor and Korra practically jumped out. "So this star wars, is it any good?"
"Oh yes very much so, I have it at home so if you want after we get dinner we can watch it."
"Sounds good, Asami?"
"Yeah" She gave a tired smile. "I'd love that."
"Sir again, what the hell's happening?" Walter looked pissed off. Oh right, god I always forget.
"Hey sorry, so we're going to watch star wars after dinner."
"Oh, nice."
So that pretty much summed up our activity for the night, no fancy night clubs, or movie theaters, just watching Star Wars at home in DVD.
We ate at McDonalds so the girls can experience 'fast food' and then proceeded to get back home. It was seven in the evening when we got back and after I fumbled a bit trying to find the discs, we started watching the movie using the tv on the living room.
I decided that they should watch the original trilogy first and see what they think about the story and above all the visuals since that would be their first taste of our films. With the opening sequence of A New Hope the sleepy eyes Asami was woken up by the visuals of a Star Destroyer chasing the Rebel ship. She was already inpressed with what she saw and so was Korra.
As the film went on they've got deeply engage even though they didn't understand a thing since there weren't Mandarin subtitles available.
"Spirits, that was awesome! Everything looks so... real!" Korra said as the credits started rolling. "Its like it really happened, those plane scenes were incredible."
"Yeah, it looked great. Don't think any of Varrick's movers can complete with that." Asami added.
"Remember." I got up from the couch and ejected the disc. "This film was made almost forty years ago, by today's standards the film isn't the best looking one." I should let them watch a new one, but which one? Hmm... ah! Why not Interstellar? That shit looked insane. "Hey I'm going to show you another one, this time from last year called Interstellar and its about space and black holes."
"Black holes?" Asami raised an eyebrow. Right, black holes were theorized by Hawking in the seventies.
"Its kind of like a space drain... I'll just explain later, lets watch it first and see for you self."
"Okay" she shrugged.
So in goes the disc, the girls were quiet throughout the film and were awed when the scene with the black holes came to the screen, and that's when I explained it to them, its power and the basics of the Theory of Relativity by Einstein. Korra didn't get a lot of it especially the parts about space-time but Asami on the other hand, she was extremely interested and it looked like she was more interested in whatever I was rambling about than she was on the film. I continued to explain it with the help of Wikipedia up until the calculations for the physics which I couldn't since I haven't studied them but at the same time Asami's head was also full of new concepts and ideas which doesn't exist yet in their world, concepts of space travel and putting people on the moon. They have so much to learn, but then again would they put someone on their moon which they consider a spirit and makes their world work?
March 22 (D + 9)
"Good morning sergeant! How was the night?" General Braun pat my shoulders as we got out of the car.
"It was good sir, showed them Star Wars and Interstellar, the latter turned into a lecture of me explaining space-time to the girls" I replied.
"Well would you look at that, finally using your degree yes?" The general chuckled. "Come on, don't want our guests to wait so long."
We were transported to this place, some sort of a massive firing range, by a car as told by Captain Ernst yesterday, on the lobby of the building earlier today. As far as I know the car drove south for an hour by the autobahn and then got out at an exit somewhere. The girls were not very exited because they know we're just showing off but hey, orders are orders. We all wore jackets as the weather is still quite cold but the sky was clear, perfect for flying.;
"What is this place?" Korra asked.
"No idea." I replied. "Don't know what to expect either."
We followed the general to a small elevated wooden platform with seats and there sat Haoyung and Iroh with several of the Bundeswehr's top commanders with them. Damn, so it this going to be one hell of a show? After a short introduction with the commandersGeneral Braun signaled me to sit with Korra and Asami, with the general to my right.
After we sat down the general whispered. "Sergeant, I want you to translate to the ladies what's happening later as the demonstration starts since we'll have an announcer."
"Uh, yes sir." I looked over the platform.
In front and below of us parked six Leopard 2 main battle tanks with about twenty four Marder APCs. There was also three PzH2000 self propelled artillery which had long range 155mm guns, and several more jeeps around the area with about a company of infantry. The area we were in was a vast plain with almost no trees for kilometers around us. Around a kilometer away to our front was a small area with paper targets both stationary and moving with bullseyes and tanks of which were old soviet era heaps of metal. So they really are going all out huh.
After a quick explanation to Korra and Asami what the vehicles in front of us are, the demonstration kicked off with the announcer requesting us to stand for the singing of national anthem: Deutschlandlied. After the national anthem we all sat back down with the announcer stating the first part of the demonstration, artillery bombardment.
Each one of us was provided with binoculars and as such were able to see the the effects of the artillery on the target. It starts with the PzH2000s firing several shots in quick succession before slowing down to a more regulated tempo. Through the binoculars we saw the high explosive shells hit the target area and explode, ripping the paper to shreds.
"Very accurate." quipped Iroh. "Impressive... impressive."
The girls on the other hand were less interested and said nothing during the artillery demonstration. After a few minutes they stopped firing. The announcer then stated that armoured assault is next coupled with close air support, he then told us to look at the vehicles parked just in front of us. The Leopard 2s have formed up into wedge with the Marders within it, their engines started roaring and the announcer then directed us towards the sky behind us.
"Woah, how fast is that plane going?" Asami was looking up, seeing two Panavia Tornadoes streaking across the sky.
"Not sure." I replied.
In a matter of seconds the planes flew just a few hundred meters above us heading towards the target area and BOOM! Well they're definitely above the speed of sound. The platform shook as the shockwaves from the sonic boom hurdled across the plain.
"Spirits, what was that?!" Korra said, alarmed.
"Relax, that's just the sonic boom." I replied. "It happens when a plane, or anything for that matter, is moving faster than the speed of sound."
"Speed of sound?" Asami exclaimed. "Thats so fast."
The announcer's voice then boomed through the speakers telling that the Tornadoes are going in for a run. We all looked back to the target area with both the Tornadoes' silhouette flying over the target area.
The Tornadoes started the run by moving about two kilometers to the right of the target area and slowing down, then they formed up with the lead aircraft in front and its wingman close behind. Approximately a kilometer away and an altitude of just five hundred meters they dropped their two bombs and quickly pulled up, accelerating in the process. The bombs they dropped were slightly off target which meant they were unguided ones, as the smoke from the explosion rise up into the sky the Tornadoes leveled off and continued flying to the left.
The planes then turned around and started a shallow dive into the target area with the wingman increasing its distance from the lead plane tremendously. After a few seconds the lead plane started firing off its main cannon, strafing the soviet tanks and sparks came off its old rusty armour. The lead plane pulled out of the dive and in turn its wingman started strafing, few seconds later the wingman also pulled out and rejoined the lead aircraft. In formation they slowed down even more and decreased altitude until we could clearly see the markings on its fuselage, exiting the area they flew right over us wiggling their wings and after getting over the platform they accelerated and flew off into the distance.
Even though we weren't able to see the Tornadoes anymore we were still able to hear them for a couple of seconds more before the rumble of the tanks' engines are the only thing we could hear.
"Those planes of yours... their speed is unimaginable." Iroh said loudly. "How are you able to build such machines?"
General Braun glanced at me, then stared at the translator beside him. "I'm sorry but I can not say, it is a matter of national security." Hmph, national security my ass.
"I see, well let us continue shall we?"
General Braun smiled as the announcer started talking once more, this time the armoured assault started. The tanks' engines roared as they started rolling out. The distinctive metallic noise the tracks make as it moves quickly reminded our guests of the similarities of our tanks to their own mecha-tanks (which I was able to see a picture of during the four days I was in the other side) except we have cannons and theirs don't. The announcer then told us to look at the remaining targets, moving ones in fact, and said the Leopard 2s would be demonstrating its accuracy by firing while moving.
And so it did.
Almost every shot the Leopard 2s fired hit the bullseye of their intended targets which was some one kilometer away, not very impressive in today's standard but for our visitors...
"The accuracy, spirits! Almost every shot hit the red dots on the target, and these tanks of yours were moving quite fast too." Iroh lowered his binoculars and looked at General Braun.
General Braun was grinning, I know that he knows the intended effects of this demonstration is starting to show up. He remained silent but was still grinning when the announcer spoke once more. The troops were now advancing fairly rapidly across the plain and about three fourths of the way the Leopards dispersed and the Marders came up through the gaps and the infantry started unloading. The infantry the took up positions beside the vehicles and started firing with the armour providing cover as the infantry slowly advanced,
"Its simulating an encounter with the enemy." I heard General Braun remark with a nod of acknowledgement from General Iroh.
A few minutes later they mounted up once more and the tanks went back into formation and drove right into the target area. Reaching their destination the infantry dismounted again and this time the armour stayed beside the infantry providing support as they moved up slowly. Out of the sound of explosions and machinegun fire I heard the ever so distinct sound of helicopters, Korra and Asami also heard it and we looked up to see four of them coming from the right side of the target area. Upon closer inspection I identified them as Eurocopter Tigers with a pair of rocket pod mounted on its hardpoints, they descended onto the target area firing its munitions just a hundred meters or so in front of the infantry. Damn that's far too danger close for my taste. The choppers then hovered opposite of the infantry to the surprise of our gests and started unloading its cannons, again on the soviet tanks.
"Its hovering... its hovering using its propellers! Why didn't I think of that!" Asami facepalmed "The wings on the Hummingbirds were so inefficient... I should have though of this."
"Hey don't get yourself too worked up." Korra smiled. "You'll find a way when we get home."
Asami just returned the smile before looking back through the binoculars. She'll be surprised when she finds out how hard it is to actually make a helicopter stay upright and not spin out of control.
The helicopters now out of ammunition flew towards us and one of them stopped just fifty meters in front of the platform, the pilot waved his hands through the cockpit then went on with the rest of the flight. Was that shit scripted? That has to be, there's no way any of them would do that in their right mind. I glanced at General Braun and he had the largest smile on his face I've ever saw. Yep, scripted. I then looked over to Korra and Asami who were very very impressed with the helicopter and the amount of control the pilot have over the vehicle.
"The controls needs to be so precise for that pilot to do that move." Asami looked over my shoulders. "General Iroh..."
"Wait Asami." He interrupted. "Its not over yet." He pointed at the firing range.
Asami went back to her binoculars and sure enough the infantry was still moving up with the armour. They unfurled the German Flag and one of them rushed up a small mound, planted the flag, and fired a flare onto the sky.
"And that's it." General Braun stood up, obviously impressed with the demonstration. "I greatly appreciate that you have all came here for this demonstration."
General Iroh stood up and they shook each other's hands.
"Very well done General Braun, I'm most impressed. I'm curious though, how many men does your army field?"
"How many men?" General Braun Stroke his chin. "Hmm, its... just a little over a quarter of a million."
"Two hundred and fifty thousand, I see." Iroh's head bobbed. "A good sized army in my opinion."
"I've read that they had called up millions of men to serve before." The generals we surprised to see Asami interjecting. "It was seventy years ago during the World War Two, your country fielded millions of men, what's stoppimg you from doing the same?" Wow she really did read a lot.
General Braun chuckled. "Miss Sato times change, remember that it was over seventy years ago. Besides, having millions of men under arms requires the whole country's effort to be devoted to it. It is just yoo expemsive to keep that number during peacetime." He looked over to Iroh. "I think it is the same for yours?"
"Yes it is, but we don't have this conscription of yours. We find it distasteful to force people to serve for their government, kind of beats the idea of democracy." You have no idea how much men America conscripted during the war. He continued. "The Earth Republic... or rather its former self, the Earth Kingdom did try to force people into their army. They did it with airbenders that were popping up within its borders but it ended badly, with the airbenders escaping after Korra here rescued them." Another pause. "Those people were Earth Kingdom citizens yet they were treated horribly by their government so they escaped. How did YOU prevent that?"
By then the commanders had already left leaving the four guests, me, Walter, General Braun and his translator behind. I was wondering why Haoyung wasn't asking anything but then I realized that he was just absorbing as much information in, information he would needs to report to their president.
"Nationalism." General Braun's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Nationalism is a very very powerful notion, do you have it there? " he raised an eyebrow.
Iroh looked out towards the field and sighed. "We did, the fire nation used it to great effect during the Hundred Years War, they mobilized their citizens and taught them they were better than everyone else." He formed his hands into a fist before sighing again. "That's what happens when the government has too much power, feeding lies to its people... my people. They even cheered when the news of the air nomads being wiped out reached home."
General Braun put his hands on Iroh's shoulders. "Hey, our worlds have a lot more in common that we might have initially thought." He signaled the rest of us to follow them. "Come, lets get back, all of you need rest. There would be another meeting tomorrow, the last one before you can get back home." He removed his hands and saluted Iroh.
General Iroh returned the salute with Korra and Asami looking at each other, nodding.
"It looks like Japan is a lot more like the Fire Nation than these Nat-si of yours." Asami got up from my computer and sat down on the bed. "Still, both of them had done far more terrible things than the Fire Nation."
"Actually. I remember reading than the previous avatar... Aang wasn't it? He stopped the Fire Lord from burning your whole world down and killing everyone. Ours only tried to kill select groups of people not entire continents." I pointed it out sitting comfortably on my chair beside the bookshelf.
"Hmm, yes you got a point."
We got back hone after General Braun took us to lunch in a fancy restaurant, obviously trying to impress our guests. I didn't mind though since I wasn't the one paying. We got back to my apartment around one in the afternoon and Asami immediately got to my computer and started reading more, Korra on the other hand settled down on the living room and tried to meditate, something she haven't done yet in this world. Walter... he got bored and fed up since he couldn't understand a thing so he requested a leave to visit his family on the other side of the city. I granted it and gave him a hundred Euros to cover the expenses on the condition he shuts the hell up and returns by midnight.
"Hey Asami I'd like to show you something." I went to the computer and opened up Steam. "Its called video games."
She got up from the bed and came close to me. "Video games? Like games like the ones on boards?"
"Board games, yes there are. But the are also other genres kike first person shooters, strategy, simulation, and many others." Steam loaded up and I opened my library. "Here I have thirty games from military simulation to strategy games."
"Huh, what's this one?" She pointed at Red Orchestra 2.
"Its a first person shooter, a bit realistic but still quite arcadey."
She looked confused over the terms. Of course she is you dumbass, show not tell. I loaded the game up amd got into a single-player match against bots, playing as the Germans. With the screen loaded up she was surprised to see the gun and the hud appearing on screen. I described to her how the game works, how points are earned, and finally the gameplay itself. I was waiting for her to get shocked on seeing we shoot other people to have fun but it seemed like she's already used to it.
"What do you think?" I asked as the scores came up at the end of the round.
"That does look fun, fast and exciting." Fast and exciting? Oh you have not seen twitch shooters like Call of Duty yet.
"You wanna try some?"
"Yeah sure, why not."
She started playing as I guide her on the controls, an hour later she's already winning matches on medium difficulty. Wow she's a fast learner.
After another match she removed the headset and put it aside. "Its still bothering me though, this game is based on history, that battle where hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, and you people are okay with it?"
"Yeah." I exited the match and got back to the main menu. "It was seventy years, we have hundreds of films about it and dozens of games more. Humans are instinctively attracted to explosions and violence, that's why movies and games today are getting more and more realistic. People want to experience war short of actually going to war." I sat back down on the bed. "I remembered you showing me your... movers, and it was purely for propaganda, to make your country enter the war. Ours are the same but today its mostly for entertainment, there are still propaganda ones but its a lot less."
"Ah" was her only reply.
There was a knock on the door and I turned my head to see Korra.
"Hey, watcha doing?" She got in and sat beside me.
"He's showing me their video games." Asami replied.
"Huh... can I try?" Korra looked at me.
"Uh, okay."
Korra replaced Asami on the chair and as the match was loading Asami spoke.
"So Korra, how was the meditation."
"Not very good." She replied. "I really can't seem to get any connection here... in this world. I could feel some but its very weak... oh its done loading." She pointed at the monitor as the deployment screen came up.
"Huh, so do you really think there arn't any spirits here?"
"Maybe, but then again their world is larger than ours so there might be some somewhere out there, but there definitely are none anywhere close." Her attention got back to the monitor as the round started. "So, how do I play?"
I taught her like I taught Asami and Korra was a far quicker learner than Asami, she was already wrecking the bots forty minutes in.
"Wohoo! Fifty two kills! Hey Asami how many did you get."
She sighed with a smile. "Twenty five oh mighty avatar."
"Ha! This is so much fun! Do you have a higher difficulty." She asked me.
"In fact we do, ita the hardest one."
"Oh really? What's it called then." She said with a smug face.
I grinned "Multiplayer."
This time she was the one getting wrecked, running out in the open to get sniped or not checking the map and getting gunned down my machinegunners in corners that other players on her team pointe out. Her first multiplayer match ended with her just getting three kills to over thirty deaths. Good thing the scoreboard doesn't show deaths, that'll be embarrassing.
"I think that's enough games for today." She took off the headset and placed it on the table. "The other players are people too right?"
"Yes, yes they are."
"They're really good." She got up and sat beside Asami who was cheering her throughout the match. "What do you think?"
"I think you're getting a little too engrossed in it." she ran her hands through Korra's hair. "Wanna watch some more of those movies?"
"Yeah!"
March 23 (D + 10)
Another day another meeting, like the first one me and Walter sat in the waiting room for the whole day doing nothing, just waiting for them to finish their meeting. Luckily this time the lady gave us several magazines and newspapers to pass the time. The general also told us to wear our service uniforms for unknown reasons, maybe to look good for the last day? I'm not sure.
It was six in the evening when the meeting finally ended, I was already asleep on the chair by that time and Walter called me up when they entered the room.
"Hello sergeant, that doesn't look very comfortable sleeping on that seat."
"No shit." I got up and to my horror I realized it was General Braun who spoke. "Oh shit... Sir I'm sorry, I though you were someone else."
He chuckled. "Its alright sergeant, I understand that you're still a little cranky after just waking up." he laughed some more. "At ease sergeant, at ease."
"Uh huh, yes sir. Thank you sir."
The general came forward. "We'll be leaving for the Bundestag, the chancellor's got an announcement for the world later at eight."
"Sir? Its the time?"
"Yes sergeant it is, now come on we don't want to be late. They have left first since they're going to be introduced to other... politicians." he said the word with distaste. "The announcement would be broadcasted all over the world, wouldn't want to miss it." He turned around waving for us to follow him. "Oh, and it'll also be at that place you'll get your chevrons on your uniforms, that's why I asked the both of you to wear them today." Oh so that's why.
We followed him to his car and it drove onto the Bundestag with police escort. Huh, so they're going high visibility now. We entered the Reichstag from the front entrance, security was extremely heavy... possibly even heavier than when the parliament convene. The press were all over the place and when they saw the three of us getting up the stairs a shower of light greeted us.
"Sir, what the hell did we say to them for them to come in full force?" I asked the general.
"Oh... well." He grinned. "They announce that we discovered something... something that WILL change the world." That's so vague, can't belive it worked.
I turned my head around to look at the dozens of news vans before getting into the building. Wow, this is the first time I'm entering on official business... Awesome! He headed to the board room, this is where parliament convenes, it was very big with hundreds of seats all facing a small podium with a massive eagle, the Bundesadler, behind it and several flags on both sides. We settled down onto the seats behind the podium, we sat there for at least thirty minutes before the guests arrived with the chancellor, by then the seats opposite of the podium were pack with journalists. Journalists? What? What the hell, are they really going all out? Moments later the chancellor stepped onto the podium with the guests taking their seats beside me, journalists' laptops were open and dozens of cameras were rolling. The chancellor started:
"Ten days ago on the thirteenth of March, two thousand and fifteen, Sergeant Geraldt Tchaikovsky on a routine patrol uncovered a cave deep within the Hürtgen forest." Routine patrol... ha! "Within it he discovered a portal... a portal to a parallel universe." Parallel universe? Are you sure its a parallel universe or is that the closest thing you can say? "Within it lies a whole new world, a world of which people have powers to manipulate classical elements and the avatar, their spiritual leader is here with us today. Avatar Korra..."