Colonel Gerlachus rubbed her temples, sighing as Major General Brose finished delivering the details of her new assignment.
“And I have three days to get there?”
“Fort Bence on Mars,” Brose confirmed. “You have to reach there within three days.”
“So I’ll have to leave my position with the Frei Squad.” she accepted.
“Well, I’ll have to change my work duties too,” Brose said in an attempt to sympathize with her. “I’m going to be part of the team creating the course. It’s more likely than not that I’ll also have to go to Mars at some point, so at least we won’t be far from one another.”
“I’m not worried about that, it’s just… my students need me to be there for them. Every student in the Empire has had multiple instructors during their schooling except for those six. They won’t know what to do.”
“This is temporary, Tove,” Brose tried to reassure. “I can’t imagine the course to be longer than three weeks… a month at most. They can manage. I’ll arrange for a captain to supervise them until then.”
“That’s if the ground invasion goes to plan,” Tove noted. “But we both know how unpredictable Terrans are. If things shift too much, us instructors will be required again.”
“What do you want to tell me?” Waldomar sighed. “Give it to me clearly.”
She’ll never admit it, but she really does care about those students. Even if most of them are Terran. They’re the only people in recent memory she’s had to live under the same roof with.
“I want to go back to the Palace and tell them exactly what will be happening. I want them to hear from my mouth how things will proceed.”
“I’m afraid I can’t allow that.” Waldomar said with empathy in his voice.
“Why not? My expertise applies only—well, fine, at the very least I can return to my quarters and retrieve my belongings. I only brought an extra change of clothing here.”
“Absolutely not, Colonel Gerlachus,” Waldomar said sternly. “If your students see you and realize you’re gone the next day they will ask questions that are unnecessary. They will become complacent and… let’s just say outcomes that are undesirable will come about. I’ll have a couple of my people come and get your things for you as soon as possible.”
“I understand, Major General…”
Tove frowned, but at the end of the day, Waldomar was not only her illicit lover. She was one of his first students and he was her immediate superior as well. There was a dynamic she had to respect as a subordinate and a soldier.
“…I have one request to make.” she proposed, her tone humble.
“I’m all ears.” Waldomar said.
“Don’t bring in a captain,” she said. “I want you to temporarily promote one of my students and have them act in the capacity of a supervisor.”
Brose was intrigued at this offer. But he needed to know more to accept it.
“Tell me more.” he nodded.
“Warrant Officer Meinrad Glynn, one of the two Terran children we selected to be sent to the northern edge of Yeupis. His leadership, problem-solving and physical prowess together make him the best in the Squad.”
“I believe I do recall that boy.” Brose remarked with his finger under his chin.
“He was also responsible for identifying, tracking, and dispatching the leader of the Terran resistance. Not in the way we’d hoped, but he got it all done. He’s more than capable. I know you remember what I reported back to you back in Shargara.”
Brose clasped his hands and rested his chin on his knuckles as he thought critically about the proposition. Although he wanted to say yes immediately, he was a senior-ranking member of the Titanian military and any action from him required deep thought.
“I accept,” he said. “Although higher level actions will need my guidance, I don’t see why he can’t supervise the Frei Squad.”
Without a second of hesitation, Tove threw her arms around Waldomar and squeezed him tightly.
“Thank you, Waldomar. He won’t let you down, I promise you.”
“Of… course…” Brose gasped as the air was being pushed out of his lungs by Tove’s strong hold. She only stopped after he tapped her lightly on the shoulder as he began to have difficulty breathing.
“I’m sorry, did I hurt you? Please tell me I didn’t hurt you.”
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” he smiled.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
She’d rather be caught dead than act this way in front of her students. Or anyone else, for that matter.
“Your word means a lot to me because you were not only my best student, but you’re my best instructor, too,” he continued after his breath returned to him. “You’re the instructor of the one and only Frei Squad for a reason.”
He pecked her lightly on the lips briefly, but he had to remind himself internally that he had not agreed to Tove’s offer because of their mutual feelings. Indeed, their illicit relationship had only begun after she was appointed as the Frei Squad instructor.
“I better change into my other clothes,” she said in a sultry tone after a few agonizing moments of silence, tugging suggestively at the lapel of her jacket. “It’s getting really hot. Would you like to help?”
Brose pushed her inching forehead away with his palm, causing her to fall on her back.
“I have an email to finish writing. It’s getting quite late, too.” he said firmly, rejecting Tove’s advances.
“After so long, I thought we could… argh, never mind. I’m heading to bed.” she exasperatingly accepted. Her feet hit the floor with a thud, pushing away Waldomar’s boots as she shuffled down to his bedroom.
“Wait, Tove.”
The woman turned around; a frown set on her face.
“What?”
“When this war’s over… you should think about retiring. I want the whole world to know what you mean to me. There’s only one way that can happen.”
Tove spun back around, but she didn’t continue moving right away.
“Good night, Wally.” she said, once in again in a relaxed tone.
“Good night, Tove.” he said, before setting his eyes on his communicator again.
Waldomar couldn’t see the massive grin on her face as she entered his bedroom and shut the door.
--
Roll call went as usual. Alarms rang in each occupied bedroom of the Solich Palace at 7:30AM, prompting six young men and women to rise to their feet, wash up in the bathrooms, and don their uniforms. It was routine for everyone by that point, even for Joakim. He noticed that one of the two bathrooms—there was one for either sex—was already damp, the aftermath of an early morning shower. In the preceding two weeks, that hadn’t been the case as Joakim always got up before the only other male student in the Palace, Sindri. This meant that the third boy had returned and was already waiting in the Great Hall.
Leaving the bathroom after giving himself the chance to freshen up, he saw a diminutive girl waiting outside the adjacent girls’ bathroom, a towel slung over her shoulder and a toothbrush and toothpaste in each hand.
“Um… good morning, Malin.” he said, hoping a bit of small talk would help get his day rolling, even though the recipient wasn’t fond of such conversations.
“Morning.” she replied quietly, her gaze firmly fixed on the bathroom door as she leaned against the wall behind her.
“Meinrad and Klaudia must be back,” Joakim remarked. “How are you feeling?”
“It’s good to have more company… I suppose. I can’t say it’s bad.” she answered drearily.
“I see,” Joakim nodded.
She’s been talking more to me, slowly but surely. This is good.
“Well, I have a question, if you don’t mind.” he continued.
“Hmm?” she said, narrowly turning her head to make eye contact with Joakim.
“What are they like? Are they nice people to be around?”
“I’d say they’re the only people keeping this squad together. Besides the instructor.”
The only people keeping you together? I wonder how you managed to survive each other for two years.
Before Joakim could inquire further, he and Malin both heard the tap inside the girls’ bathroom shut, followed by the sound of the doorknob being toggled with.
“You'd better be gone,” Malin said. “It isn’t Klaudia who’s in there. Unless you want your head talked off.”
Joakim understood the implication and nodded.
“Right. I’ll see you downstairs.”
Ten minutes later, all six members of the Frei Squad had arrived at the Great Hall. Standing side by side, they noticed that they were the audience to absolutely no one at all.
“Shouldn’t the instructor be here by now?” Lucia spoke first as soon as everyone was present.
“She’s never late.” Meinrad noted, taking a glance at Klaudia as if she might’ve known the truth.
“It’s 8:03,” the girl looked at the device attached to her wrist. “We should wait.”
Another minute went by, and the Frei Squad began to become impatient. Lucia paced around, Malin sat on the pristine, shiny floor, and Sindri tapped his foot on the ground so rapidly Joakim thought he might make a dent in the ground.
The doors into the palace finally opened, but they were not greeted by Colonel Gerlachus. Instead it was a man that five out of the six were relatively familiar with. Their right hands flew up in salute, and Joakim simply copied them.
“I apologise for keeping you all here waiting,” Major General Brose said. “But this won’t be your typical roll call.”
After confirming that every student was present, Brose briefed them on the reason why he was there instead of Gerlachus.
“Due to the ever-changing circumstances happening at the war front, many of your colleagues have had to be transferred into other, more urgent areas. One of these, unfortunately, is Colonel Gerlachus.”
He paused to let them process the information. They were all silent, but he could imagine what they must’ve been thinking.
“That will mean that your learning will be paused until her work is done. I can’t say exactly when that will be at this time. Until then, you will function more in line with a typical squad. This means you could be sent on missions, which I know from past experiences you have had much success,”
Meinrad felt eyes all over him, even though no one moved their heads. He knew what Brose was referring to.
“In light of that, Colonel Gerlachus and I have decided that one of you will be in charge of the others for the time being. Warrant Officer Meinrad Glynn, please step forward.”
“Yes, sir.” Meinrad complied with a stoic look, moving up about a stride and a half.
“From here on out, you will be temporarily assigned the rank of Captain. There is a general checklist of tasks to do in your instructor’s office which you will be allowed to use as your own for the time being. The rest of you will obey his words the same way you obeyed the Colonel’s. Captain Glynn, if you do an exceptional job, I may consider a permanent promotion. Is everything clear?”
“Sir, yes, sir!” all six cried in confirmation.
“Excellent,” Brose was pleased, but didn’t smile. “I will expect a weekly report on your progress and observations starting in a week from now, Captain Glynn.”
Brose left the Palace, after which the Great Hall echoed with the applause of most Squad members. Malin partook in it, though not as ecstatically as her squad-mates, and Sindri simply kept his hands at his sides.
Meinrad’s eyes skimmed across the line of his new subordinates. He remained quiet, not sure of how to react to such attention. But more than that, he was unsure if it was even right.
Did killing the Anbieter lead me here?
Meinrad felt a pair of hands on his shoulder’s, and he turned to see Lucia’s face with a grin plastered on it.
“Congratulations, Meinrad. You’ve got this!”
“Captain,” he shrugged her off. “I’m Captain now.”