22/1/2026
Luftwaffe Space Center, The Cold hard surface of Mars…
"Would you put your goddamn feet down? You think these tables are made of stone or something?" Jacob demanded with a harsh tone as he forced his colleague's feet off the table. "I'm trying to eat my lunch here!"
"You always were sensitive, Jacob. I might as well get some rest before heading out on another run." Thomas replied, trying to mimic an offended tone. "I really don't get it. Why are they so interested in surveying Mars? Nothing but red sand here."
"We do whatever the Luftwaffe says we should do. That's the terms of the contract."
"Sometimes I wished I just stayed behind on Earth and continued doing bombing runs on Africa…" Thomas remarked.
"Even you must admit, zero gravity was funny for quite some time." Jacob replied as he ate his soup, still hot from the fresh turn it had in the microwave.
"For like the first few days, sure. If the pay wasn't so good, then I would have bailed a long time ago." Thomas said as he once again put his feet on the table.
"Will you knock it off?" Jacob requested with his mouth full of soup, once again knocking Thomas's feet off the table. Thomas sighed, clearly bored with the situation at hand. He had tried most of the tricks in the book to pass the time, but nearly all of them annoyed the living hell out of Jacob. Even throwing plastic spoons at him while he was sleeping was off the table.
"I just think the Research departments should focus on getting us to new systems. Exploring new planets, discovering new plants, staking claims and perhaps even meeting aliens!" Thomas proclaimed. That was why he had joined up in the first place. A chance to see something new.
"R&D will pick and choose based on what their funding and expertise allows. We probably won't see exploration out of the solar system for another 50 years, that being said, I do believe that Mars holds many interes-"
"ACHTUNG ACHTUNG! Unteroffizer Weber and Hautmann Becker, please report to the briefing room at once. Repeat: Unteroffizer Weber and Hautmann Becker, please report to the briefing room at once." The base's comm system cried out. They both looked confused up at it, and then confused at each other.
"Looks like we have been summoned. Let's get going." Thomas said as he arose from his seat.
"Fucking hell, I just warmed this up!" Jacob angrily exclaimed as he threw out the remainder of his soup in the bin. He then quickly ran after Thomas to catch up.
Later that day…
"I sense a storm coming… Probably don't have much more than a couple of hours before we have to turn back." Jacob remarked as he looked out over the horizon. Seeing the dusty storm gathering in the distance. Mars was known for it, being unpredictable in it's weather. One of the few things Jacob hated about it. He was used to being calculated in his nature.
"Why thank you for the forecast, Mr. weatherman. How about we just get on with this so we can get home again? This suit is fucking uncomfortable." Thomas bitterly replied as he drove their space rover forward towards their final cave of the day. The base leader stressed that his cave had puzzled the eggheads back on Earth, and they needed to search it extra carefully.
"You really don't belong in space, you know that right?" Jacob asked.
"If by space you mean this shit, then yeah, I don't belong at all." Thomas was so looking forward to vacation time in three weeks' time.
"You're beaming with positivity today. I, for one, am looking forward to continuing this assignment. This will help us understand Mars much better, not to mention that- STOP!"
Thomas slammed the brakes. Almost sending them flying out of the rover as it stopped. As the dust settled around them, Thomas turned to face Jacob. "What the fuck was that?!" He demanded to know.
"We're here! The cave!" He pointed over to a small rock formation to the west.
"I thought we were still miles out." Thomas pointed out with a confused tone in his voice.
"Apparently not. That's it!" Jacob said as he jumped out of the rover. "You coming?" He asked as he grabbed their scanning equipment.
"Guess I am." He muttered as he jumped out of the rover as well. Following closely behind Jacob. As they got closer to the dark cave, they turned on their flashlights. They looked at each other, as if they were both unsure on how to proceed. They had done hundreds of caves like this one, yet this cave felt different. Like something was calling to them.
"No putting it off." Jacob said as he took the first steps into the cave, which seemed weirdly formed. It was like it had been formed by something other than nature.
"Did you hear about what the Führer is doing? With getting rid of state atheism?" Thomas asked as he followed closely behind, never letting his partner out of sight.
"I heard, yes." Jacob simply replied, as if he was uninterested in taking part in the conversation.
"That's like pissing on Hitler's grave. Can't believe they are letting him do it." Thomas remarked with a sigh. He wasn't that much into the politics of the Reich, but he always considered himself a conservative to the bone.
"It's nothing new though, remember what the last Bormann Führer tried to do? Man nearly started having state-legislated orgies. I'll never understand high-commands fascination with pagan degeneracy."
"I see you haven't let go of your catholic roots yet. You will forever remain an Austrian." Thomas muttered, and he hoped Jacob didn't pick up on it.
"Our first Führer was one, why shouldn't I be proud."
"You're lucky we're on Mars right now, or Hitler's ghost would have smacked you upside the head right about now, and then sent you to the shooting range as a fresh target." Thomas fired back.
"Listen here you fuckin-" Just as Jacob was about to deliver an ass whooping, something cracked beneath his feet. He looked down, before he could even analyze the situation, the cave floor gave way. He fell, and he wasn't so proud as to not admit a yelp escaped him. He must have fallen several feet, and whatever he landed on was hard, harder than the normal Mars rock.
"Fucking hell! JACOB! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" Thomas yelled as he stormed towards the hole and looked down, trying desperately to locate his friend in the pitch black darkness.
"I'm-" Jacob groaned as he sat up, quickly checking for any raptures in his space suit. "I'm fine... Can you get me up?" He asked as he stood back up, trying to stretch out his back, which hurt like hell.
"I'll get the ladder in the rover. Hang on!" Thomas yelled back down to his friend. Jacob tried to get his bearings in the new location. First thing he noticed was that he was right regarding the floor. It was made of metal. It seemed to be a sort of catwalk. "The fuck?" He said to himself. He followed the catwalk along, curiosity getting the better of him.
He didn't have to walk very far before he was greeted with the sight of what appeared to be some sort of control room. At first he expected that this was some sort of test facility that had since been abandoned by the Reich. Upon further inspection however, it was clear that nothing their nation had thought of in the last 50 years could come close to replicating this sort of technology. Not even in their wildest fantasies.
A terminal of some sort lied in front of him, yet there were no buttons, levers or switches, everything was purely holographic, like something out of one of those sci-fi movies. There were symbols on what he could only assume was the keyboard for the thing, yet none of them he could even closely recognize as being akin to any human alphabet. If he had to make a guess, it seemed like some weird mix of the degenerate alphabets of Russian and Hebrew.
"What's up?" Thomas asked, which scared the living daylight out of Jacob. "You alright?" Thomas said as he tried to keep Jacob was falling down on the ground again.
"Yeah… Yeah.. I'm good." Jacob said as he tried to catch his breath again. "Don't ever sneak up on me like that again though." Jacob ordered.
"As you wish… You looked hypnotized or something like that. What is on the computer?" Thomas asked confused as he tried to peak over Jacob's shoulder.
"I don't know… It's so… Foreign…." Jacob said as his mind raced at a hundred miles a second trying to figure out what was going on. He didn't touch anything, fearing what might happen if he did so. They needed to get a hold of the base Commander as soon as possible. He checked his comms, but his signal was blocked.
"I wonder what this button will do." Thomas said as he reached forward and pressed a button.
"No don't!" Before Jacob could stop him, Thomas pressed the button. And then the entire place lit up like a Christmas tree. They looked around, completely puzzled at what had just happened. The shutters that were on the window pulled up, revealing several ships of unknown origin, and even more unknown technology. "Thomas?" Jacob asked after several minutes of silence.
"Yeah?" Thomas asked as he swallowed a lump in his throat.
"I think you finally found that big discovery you wanted…" Jacob simply replied. They didn't say anything else… They just stared at what was before them.
23/1/2026
Ulfric's office, Reichskanzlei, Germania.
The ticking of the clock was driving the SS- Reichführer mad. Ulfric was just sitting there, silently writing on a piece of paper. Like he hadn't even noticed that one of the most important men in the Reich was sitting before him, and Ulfric had the nerve to act as if he wasn't even there.
More annoying than that, the chief of the Army, Gottfried Krüger. A man he despised even more than Ulfric, and that was saying something. While Ulfric wasn't paying him much attention, Gottfried was. Leaning on the window frame was smoking a cigarette. The Reichsführer felt as though the entire Wehrmacht was staring him down. Watching his every move, just waiting for a reason to attack.
Finally, Ulfric put his pen down. He slowly looked up at the Reichsführer. "So glad you could make it, Hans. Hope your flight from Ost-paris was comfortable." Ulfric said.
"Can't complain. From Ost-Paris to Germania in 15 minutes isn't too bad. The Reich has come a long way in Aeroplane- and Jet technology." Hans tried to smile, but it was hard to get the disgust of his face.
"That we have. And we keep getting better with each passing day." Ulfric replied, with what seemed like a mocking tone in his voice. "But let us get straight down to business. Do you know why I called you here?" Ulfric asked as he leaned forward in his seat, resting his forearms on the table.
"I can make a qualified guess."
"Then guess."
"I assume you are displeased with how the SS operates the German Reichsprotektorats of Burgundy and Ostland." Hans guessed.
"That is one of the points I wanted to discuss here today, among many other things. I gathered you haven't been much in touch with the other Führers throughout your years of service." Ulfric observed, and he had the records to prove it. Most Führers had one meeting with the SS-Reichsführer, and that was it. He wasn't entirely sure why, but he too could make a qualified guess.
"Yes. Most of our previous Führer did not feel the need to constantly look over the SS' shoulder. We know what we must do, and we do it. Everyone should know that we work towards the betterment of the Reich and the Aryan people." Hans explained.
"And that is all well and good, my dear Hans." Ulfric poured himself a glass of water. "But you see, the good of the Aryan people is currently at risk. Perhaps you might not have seen it from that Ivory tower of yours in Ost Paris."
"Excuse me?"
"You are excused." Gottfried jumped in and said.
"Yes, I am displeased with how the SS operates. Both within Greater Germany and outside of it. This-" Ulfric picked up a folder and raised it so Hans could see it. "Is what I'm talking about." Ulfric said as he threw the folder to Hans, who barely managed to grab it in time. Hans slowly opened up the folder to see pictures, operation names, lists of agents and everything else that he had been working on for the last few months. "You seem to forget that the SS was created to serve the Führer, not the other way around!" Ulfric's voice was raising in both anger and volume, but he managed to contain it before he would alert the entire Reichskanzlei to their disagreements.
Hans remained cool. It wasn't like this was the first time a Führer thought they could swoop in and start changing their operations. "Is that really all you have? A shame, mein Fuhrer, I thought you a smarter man."
"Careful now Hansie boy." Gottfried put a hand on the SS man's shoulder. "You're not in Paris anymore."
"Might I ask why Field Marshal Kürger is here? He doesn't seem very relevant to our conversation." Hans asked in a sickeningly sweet and innocent tone. Like a goblin who discovered a golden piece of information.
"Field Marshal Kürger is here to voice his own concerns. Of which there are plenty." Ulfric lazily informed him.
"Such as why in the fuck my men aren't allowed within Burgundy's borders." he cut straight to the point, tightening his grip on the SS-Führer.
"As you know, Burgundy and Ostland has been an SS concern since 1956, and we have always had special privileges compared to other Reichsprotektorats. This was dictated by our great Führer, Adolf Hitler." Hans replied with an almost evil smile that only the SS seemed to have mastered.
"That is all well and good Hans, however if you have not noticed you are not Heinrich Himmler and I am not Adolf Hitler, times have changed, and so too, I hope, has the SS." Ulfric said.
"Ah, Mein Führer, I believe that is the problem we are currently facing." the SS Führer managed to wriggle himself out of the Marshall's grip and leaned closer towards Ulfric. "We haven't changed, have we? We're more or less the only part of the Reich that hasn't changed."
He was clear on the implications Hans was making, but Ulfric wasn't too keen on playing this rats game. "And I assume you wish to tell me that we are the problem then? That is quite… unbecoming, of a member of the National Socialist High Command."
"I might just have to write a report on that, don't you think Mein Führer." Gottfried asked with a slight wink.
"Yes Gottfried, I think you just might." Ulfric replied.
Hans smiled once more, Ulfric was glad at least someone was getting some entertainment from this. "You are a clever man, Mein Führer. Clever Führers do not last long in this great nation of ours."
"Is that a threat?" Gottfried asked, taking a step towards the SS Reichsführer.
"A kind word of warning if you will, from someone who has lived in Paris all my life, trust me when I tell you that intelligence and self-determination is something most would frown upon, and others would shoot you for."
"Like my good friend said Hans, we're not in Paris."
"No, we are not."
The room had gone silent for a moment. Ulfric and Hans stared each other down, waiting for one or the other to make a move. Gottfried himself looked like he was ready to pull out his gun and just shoot the bastard right then and there.
"If you feel so inclined mein Führer, you are more than welcome to come to Ost-paris on an official state visit. I'll make sure to have the Waffen SS bring out the Panzers for a glorious parade, it will be like 1940 all over again. But I must ask that the Wehrmacht keep themselves in Germany. I'll send them a new pack of playing cards to keep them entertained in the meantime."
"Watch your tongue. You're on thin fucking ice here you goddamn Burgundian." Gottfried almost growled.
"Seems like I struck a nerve." Hans smiled again, and Ulfric was sure Gottfried would kill him right then and there. But luckily even Gottfried knew they couldn't afford an SS rebellion, or coup.
"I'll be sure to consider your gracious offer, I have been wanting for a vacation for some time now."
"Indeed, I can see it on your face mein Führer. Do be careful, stress is the enemy of beauty after all."
"Beauty is not exactly what I was going for but yes, I suppose you are right. Now if there is nothing else you wish to discuss." he got up from his chair at the same time as the SS-Führer. "I have several Zollverein meetings I must attend to."
"Naturally, I shall not keep the German people waiting."
"Good. Then you are dismissed."
As Hans began walking towards the door, and he put on his coat, he turned back for a second, looking Ulfric straight in the eyes. "One final thing to note, Mein Führer. The SS swears loyalty to both the Führer and the Aryan race. We will choose accordingly who needs our service the most. Heil Germania." Hans gave a Sieg Heil as he left the door.
"I fucking hate that guy." Gottfried wanted to spit on the floor, as if even mentioning the guy was a curse upon his family. "Another thing, don't you fucking dare go to Paris. You're essentially giving them the A-okay to put a bullet in your ass and out your head."
"I know, and I have no intentions of going there. The only boots that will be touching Burgundy soil is that of the Wehrmacht when we finally go in and get rid of him… Sadly not any time soon."
"The SS are still a major fucking threat. You have most of the Reichstag on your side, the Wehrmacht stands ready at your command. If you stall any further, then I fear it will only be harder to go through with it." Gottfried advised.
"Now is not the time. We have much bigger things to worry about, like-"
"MEIN FÜHRER!" The doors burst open. His defense minister almost collapsed onto the floor, he looked like he had just run straight from Vienna to get here. "MEIN FÜHRER URGENT NEWS!"
"What is it now Mr. Meyer? Have the Austrians started their uprising again?" Ulfric laughed.
"NO MEIN FÜHRER." Zorren Meyer said through batted breaths. "MARS!"
"What the hell are you on about man, breathe damn you!" Gottfried ordered.
"Mars… aliens… technology… mars…"
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SAYING?! WHAT'S ON MARS, SPIT IT OUT?!" he slammed the defense minister against the wall.
"The-.. the Luftwaffe… The Luftwaffe-"
Gottfried slapped him across the cheek a few times.
"The Luftwaffe astronauts found something! Inside the Mars caves! Alien technology! ALIEN!"
"Oh…." Gottfried said, before he turned to Ulfric.
"Well… That certainly is news…" Ulfric said. "Never thought I'd get to meet Martin the Martian."