"When you go to war as a boy, you have a great illusion of immortality. Other people get killed, not you… Then, when you are badly wounded the first time, you lose that illusion."
-Ernest Hemingway
~1287NDV, 3.2 Standard Wolf years earlier~
“You know, this is not what I had in mind for our honeymoon” Emilie said after taking a sip from her pre-mixed cocktail in a bottle. Johannes rummages through his bag for a looking for the drink he packed, finding it he pulled it out and said “Sorry, I timed this whole thing terribly” sharing her disappointment.
“It’s alright Johannes.”
Johannes pushes the bag away; he clutches the warm bottle of beer saving it for the right time. Looking out on the cliff he can see Abental, the city he and Emilie grew up in, in the distance between the tall snowcapped mountains. The sun setting over the mountains leaves the city in their shadow.
“If Tahvo and Siiri didn’t make their plans at the last minute we could have gone to Arkshel or Kilmel, b-”
“They wanted to get married before Tahvo was sent off to Trooper School too. And it’s not their fault you have to go next week. Honestly their wedding was technically our honeymoon anyways” Emilie interrupted Johannes, “And it was interesting anyways. I didn’t think Tahvo and Siiri were so into that religious stuff.”
“I’m pretty sure it was their parents who were interested. I mean, Tahvo told me that practically every maned wolf on Hopfengarten was there, all 40 of them.”
“It’s great that they all stayed together after moving here, It’s like they’re one big family.”
“The worst part of that wedding was the no alcohol.”
Emilie laughs “C’mon” she slaps Johannes on the back, “You survived, and their food was great anyways.”
“I’m not complaining about the food, I agree it was good, but it felt wrong not celebrating like in our wedding.”
“They seemed to have fun.”
“Who?”
“Tahvo and Siiri.”
“It was their wedding; I sure hope they had fun.”
“I really like the dancing and the music, only if I had someone to dance with.” Johannes sighs through his nose.
“You know I don’t like dancing...”
“You danced at our wedding!”
“Yeah, but that was our wedding. And it was to wolf music, I don’t know how to dance to maned wolf music. It was really fast.”
“Uhhgh, Johannes just, you don’t have to be perfect at something BEFORE you try it. It was just for fun!”
“It didn’t help I was sober” Johannes says taking a sip of his warm beer. Emilie puts her head in her hands.
“Erwin didn’t have problem with it.”
“He was kidnapped by Siiri’s cousin, she made him dance.”
“Maybe I should have done that.” Johannes grumbles, looking away.
“Maned wolves don’t do honeymoons, after their wedding that’s it” Emilie said meekly.
“Then I guess we’re lucky.”
“I’d rather spend a day with you on some trail and call it our honeymoon, than not have one at all” Emilie smiles. Johannes smiled back, he was only able to hold eye contact for a second before looking away still smiling. “You’re such a fucking dork” Emilie snickered
Folding his ears back, Johannes looked back nervously, stuttering “W-what?”
“You didn’t say anything back! C’mon!”
“I love you too” Johannes said meekly.
“Gods, you are hopeless” Emilie scoffs as she scoots closer and puts one arm around him “How are you ever going to get a girlfriend.” Johannes snickers before Emilie laughs and he joins her. Johannes twists the cap of his beer open and takes a swig,
Johannes stands in the hot late afternoon sun directly overhead, its heat blasting down on his dark fur. He and a large number of young eighteen-year-olds from Abental traveled down to Clonanon island, a large island near the equator of Hopfengarten. His mouth agape and tongue hanging out to the side panting, he looks around, they’ve been waiting out here for nearly an hour. Johannes wonders if this was still part of the tests, to see who amongst the cold-accustomed mountain people could handle the heat of other climates.
Still shedding his winter coat, Johannes itched his arms and around his neck, trying to get all the extra fur off as he could. He could see many others doing the same. Erwin and Vanir to his left were doing the same, but not Tahvo, standing to his right, he doesn’t seem that bothered, obviously more comfortable in the heat of the island. Tahvo notices Johannes looking at him, and subtly looks back. He was just about to say something, but stopped when out of the corner of his eye he saw someone walk up the stairs to the stage they were all facing.
Everyone visible straightened up and stood at attention, despite however miserable the itching was. The officer wearing his field uniform walks up to the center of the small stage, followed by three other officers, and clears his throat, “Before today, you have proven your worth and capability to become a Trooper of the Eckzahn Union” the officer says calmly. “You’ve spent the last two years of your life studying, improving your mental strength. And building your physical strength, to have the endurance and vitality needed. Each of you has proven to be the best. Most who have tried to make it this far have failed, either they are too weak willed or lack the vigor of a warrior.” The officer pauses, catching his breath, he too seems to be affected by the hot sun.
“Now none of that matters now, you are nothing again. Not all of you will make it through this course; being a Trooper is a hard job, but all of you are capable of doing it. Today you become an instrument of the Union. A blunt, unwieldly rock to throw at our enemies.” The officer starts to build up his voice, getting louder and emphasizing each word more,” But with time, training, and discipline you will become a dagger, then a sword, then a blaster. And with this blaster the Union will vanquish any threat that dares show itself against the prosperity of the Union.” The officer pauses again lowering his elevated tone.
“The Pardut are threatening our way of life, our independence. They have manipulated others to fight against us, against their own independence to serve false gods in an effort to unite the galaxy under their rule. The only thing that stands in their way is you. You, we are now one. We are now one family. Yesterday, you were strangers, now you are comrades, for ultimately one man’s actions will not change the outcome of a war, but the actions of his unit, his company, his division, his nation. Our unity gives us strength, strength the Pardut lacks.” The officer breathes deeply, preparing for his next sentence.
“In a few short months you will be fighting for the Union, I may not know where, but I know that there you will not falter. You will not flee. And You will not forfeit. The Future of the Union, our Union lies in your hands!” The officer says, now yelling. The crowd of recruits begin to look around getting excited by the enthralling speech. “Now go young warriors, go prove that the Eckzahn Union will never fall! Carry yourself as if they are watching, show them that the Union will persevere!” As he finishes the crowd yells a resounding “UUUHRAA!!” not quite in unison, followed by scattered yells and cheers as the officer walked off stage.
When the crowd of young recruits quieted down, a sergeant hurdled onto the stage and yelled “Oi, fall in!” The crowd quiets quickly, and the jumbled mass attempts to form an orderly line. Yelling and pushing their way through, the sergeants eventually packed the crowd of recruits into marching formation. In the chaos Johannes and his friends were separated. The sergeants began barking marching cadence and the recruits attempted to follow but were disjointed. Some stepped too far, some stepped too often, and others were too close to each other. They still carried the small number of belongings they were allowed to bring. They marched all the way to a gate, and at the gate they stopped.
A sergeant at the front of the formation spoke up “After you go through this gate, you will not leave unless you are dead, or graduate. This is your last chance to turn around.” The sergeant takes a quick second to look at the recruits near the front, he locks eyes with Johannes, and he stares back at him with a determined look.
“Forward, march!” the sergeant yells after no one took his last-minute offer. Finding their tempo, they marched down the road passing barracks and other buildings on one side, and an open field with obstacle courses on the other. Trucks and other vehicles pass them, some full of recruits with weary faces looking back at them.
They turn onto another road this time heading into an area with a lot of buildings. Here they pass other recruits well into their tour of training on foot, already organized into companies. Some are doing PT, while others are equipped for rucking.
“Company, Halt!” the sergeant yells as they arrive at the building clearly labeled ‘Intake’. “Fall out!” the sergeant yells, not as loud this time. Everyone relaxes and readjusts their grip on their bags. This respite was brief, not a minute later a lieutenant comes out of the double doors of the building and orders “Make four lines! Don’t keep your ranks, keep your file, split up.” he says as the recruits shuffle to reform into lines. The lieutenant motions to the first row to move forward “Get going, keep in your lane, you can’t fuck it up.” The recruits’ lines split into lanes marked on the ground, separating the four lines. They enter a large room, in the middle of which is a long table spanning the room, intersecting all four lines. At the table there are two sergeants per line station. Johannes, who is near the front, stops behind four recruits. As the first approaches the table the sergeant standing grabs his arm and scans it with his identification device, the sergeant sitting behind the table, with a tablet in his hand confirms his name saying, “Farren Albus Zeligsohn?” The recruit freezes, not knowing what to do. “Is that your name rock head?” the sergeant asked.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Yes, Sir!” The recruit yells, perhaps a bit too loud. The sergeant standing up motions him to step to the side, and continue down the lane, but the recruit does not move. “Move you Borkit!” The recruit clutches his bag and runs to his left following the lane. Then the next one in line steps up. The recruits in front of him one by one confirm their names at the table, leaving Johannes to step forward. The sergeant grabs his arm, scanning his wrist he hears a quick beep, and the other sergeant says “Johannes von Bonnkau Konradsohn?”
“Yes, Sir” Johannes says sternly.
“This way, sir” the sergeant snarkily says as he mockingly bows and holds out his hand in the direction of the lane. Johannes walks swiftly down the lane meeting up with the other recruits. As he approaches a smaller table, separate table, he sees a sergeant dumping the contents of a recruit's bag on the table. He quickly rummages through the contents looking for any contraband. Finding nothing he moves aside, leaving the recruit to hurriedly force his things back into his bag. At the same time the next recruit in line steps up and sets the bag on the table.
“You want me to unzip it? Who do you think I am, your mother?” The sergeant says as the recruit panickily unzips his bag, the zipper getting caught several times. When the bag is open, the sergeant picks up the bottom and dumps it on the table, again searching for any contraband. Finding nothing he steps aside where the previous recruit had just left with his bag full of his unorganized belongings.
Johannes steps up and unzips his duffle bag. The sergeant dumps the contents and finds nothing out of line, he steps to the side again, and the recruit behind Johannes steps forward. Johannes quickly packs his spare set of clothes, and some hygiene and toiletry products back in, and hurries to leave. He follows closely behind the recruit in front of him. He was glad this process was going much smoother than his basic training, everyone here had already done this before, and so things were moving much faster.
Johannes then filed into line at the end of the room, heading through a single door, the four separate lines reformed, and stayed together connecting to the next building. They swiftly walked down the hallway under the supervision of sergeant, to another junction where the lanes separated again. Johannes followed his lane until he reached an enclosed hallway. In this hallway there were several stations, each having a stock of a specific uniform or gear. At the first station he is handed a trooper branded duffle bag. He quickly moves to the next station, where he stands behind another recruit. He watches the two foxes behind the table hand him two tunics, he stuffs them into his new duffle bag and moves on. Johannes then steps up one of the foxes ask “Size?”
“4, large” Johannes states, the fox says nothing as he turns around and is handed one tunic with pockets, and one without. He stacks them together and slams them on the table. He doesn’t even look at Johannes, as he asks “Size?” to the next recruit. Johannes slides over, carefully packing the tunics in his new duffle bag. He moves onto the next station where much like the last, there is a coyote and some sort of dog, but this time a stack of pants is behind them. Johannes preemptively says “15, medium” the coyote doesn’t acknowledge him and turns around being handed two pairs of pants by the dog, then turns around. He sets them down on the table and looks over to the recruit behind him. Johannes again packs the pants into his bag and moves on.
This process continues for each set of issued gear, Johannes receives a cap, PT shirt and shorts, pairs of underwear, an undershirt, and reusable foot wraps. When his duffle bag was full, he rushed to join the short line forming up at the door. At the threshold of the door, a drill sergeant stopped the line from proceeding. He then stepped aside pushing the first in line forward, then getting back in the door. Johannes waited until it was his turn to stare are the drill sergeant. Looking past him, he sees a smaller desk, this time the only one in the small room.
The drill sergeant steps aside, and Johannes steps forward to the desk. Approaching the desk, a wolf with a scanner holds it out. Johannes raises his arm, meeting the scanner with his wrist. The scanner beeps, and the machine sitting on the desk whirrs for a second. The fox sitting down at the machine sticks his hand in and pulls out two name plates. Johannes leans over and takes them from the fox and opens his duffle bag and throws them in.
Johannes then swiftly walks to the door opposite from the one he entered the room. The door led to a hallway, and at the end of the hallway there was a line forming. As soon as he got up to the line, the door opened by a short Jackal. His hat was folded on one side, and his uniform was stained with the odor of humid musk. The recruit fist in line starts forward, but the Dhole sergeant pushes him back.
“Did I tell you to move?!” He yells looking up at the panting wolf.
“No, Sir.”
“Then don’t!” the dhole says skirting around him inspecting the growing line of recruits behind him. He moves back into the doorframe, and Yells “Five, not four, not six, five! step out.” Johannes, fifth in the line, steps out last. “Single File, on me.” The five, with Johannes at the end, quickly form a single file formation behind the dhole. “Double time!” The Dhole suddenly starts running. The five recruits behind him, after being delayed for a second, match his pace, and follow him down a sidewalk. While his eyes were forward, he could see other groups of five being lead in parallel. They turn, leaving one group who was close to them behind.
They approach a standalone barracks, and the dhole stops just before entering, yelling “Halt!” as he does. The recruits panting, already starting to get exhausted due to the weather, stop. The Dhole faces a coyote at the entrance of the barracks and says, “You can have these”, and jogs off to collect another batch. The coyote walks in and the recruits follow. Opens the first door, “you’re in here”. The five of them spread out, “All of you have bottom bunk” he says when Johannes puts his bag on the top bunk. They coyote heads out. Johannes takes his bag and moves it to another bed. Then he takes his own duffle bag and stuffs it in the locker next to the bunk.
As he closes the locker another batch of five are escorted in by the same coyote. He looks over and sees Erwin. Erwin makes an effort to take Johannes’ top bunk but is beaten out by another wolf. He settles the bunk next to him, and the two exchange gazes.
“Square away that bed! Put your shit on the floor!” The coyote says seeing that some of the recruits have put their duffle bags on their bunks. “Next time I come in here you better be wearing your tunics” The coyotes yells after he assures all the beds in the room have been taken. The ten recruits fly out of their civilian clothes, stick them in their lockers and change into their new tunics and pants. Having gone through basic, they all managed to stand at attention in their new training uniform within a few short minutes. Standing at the edge of their bunks, they waited, not knowing what waited for them.
A few minutes passed, this allowed Johannes time to dread what was coming. They all knew what the next week entailed, tests and tasks that would push them to the edge. Make them question their decision to volunteer. Six mile runs, twenty-mile marches, live ammunition shot right next to them. Field exercises lasting weeks, climbing literal mountains. Johannes could have chosen to go to officer school, he had good enough grades. Instead, he enlisted with his friends. He wanted to make a difference in the war right now. His Father and brothers had all done the same. They all went through this and became Troopers. They all chose this, to serve the Eckzahn Union was in his blood, he knew nothing else.
The door opening breaks his reflection, and stands at attention as the coyote who walked him in, and a wolf walked in. The coyote stands at the door while the wolf walks to the middle of the room. Finding Erwin, the wolf steps up to him and yells “What are those pockets for!?”
Erwin confused, quickly thinks of an answer “To store things, drill sergeant”
“We’re not storing anything in them right now are we, privi?”
“No, drill sergeant.”
“Then why are you wearing them?!”
“Sir, I was ordered to wear this tunic, drill sergeant.”
“I didn’t tell you to wear the one with pockets, did I?!” The coyote yells walking up to him.
“No, drill sergeant”.
“Then get out of it!” the wolf screams in his face. Erwin quickly takes off the tunic and goes into his locker trading out the tunic with the one without pockets. He slides it over his undershirt, and buttons it up. Returning to the end of the bed he stands at attention centimeters from the drill sergeant’s face who had not moved.
“That’s better, isn’t it?”
“Yes, drill sergeant!”
The drill sergeant steps back and yells, “Get the fuck out of my barracks!” The ten recruits, including Johannes and Erwin ran out into the hallway. Waiting is another sergeant waving them to run out the way they came into the building. Turning right, the ten fall into the large line of recruits running out of their own rooms, outside.
Running down the short stairs, they see a bus. Encouraged by other drill sergeants, they ran full speed into the bus, and hurriedly sat down. Erwin manages to squeeze himself past another recruit and sits down next to Johannes. They watch as the recruits one by one take their seats, and when it is full, the last one is followed by a drill sergeant.
“Tests don’t start until tomorrow, so we are going to finish today with something fun!” the wolf said. Every recruit knew, they had been through basic and selection before, nothing fun happens during training. The drill sergeant turns around and pats the driver on the back and he starts the bus. Johannes was starting to get scared; this wasn’t on the trooper school’s itinerary, they weren’t supposed to do anything today besides getting assigned company and platoon.
The drill sergeant walked down the narrow isle, crouching down and looking into the faces of the recruits he passed. They all stared forward, no emotion showing, much more disciplined than conscript forced into service of the local defense force. These were determined, skilled, diligent young men.
The bus stops, and the drill sergeant walks to the front of the bus. He then calmly says “Good night, I will see you tomorrow.” Confused, the recruits look around, flung out of their trance, out the windows they see a dirt road with dense trees surrounding it.
“Get off my bus!” the drill sergeant yells, and the recruits promptly stand up and funnel out the door. After the last one is off, the drill sergeant closes the door, and the bus takes off.
For a second the group of recruits looks around at each other, trying to figure out what to do. There is no drill sergeant with them, no one to tell them what to do. A couple start slowly walking back in the direction they came in, seeing if anyone else will follow. Some do, others stay where they are and stare at each other. One recruit speaks up, “He gave us orders to sleep, so we should go back to the barracks”, as he starts jogging. A few follow in his footsteps, and others remain where they were dropped off.
“Are we going?” Erwin asks Johannes. Johannes doesn’t say anything and starts running. Erwin joins him a second later.
“They could have at least let us wear our PTs” one recruit behind the pair says.
“That would be too easy” another, this time in front of them, says.
By now, all the recruits have started running. The setting sun, still infinitely warmer than the cool one they were all used to in the mountains, blears it red heat on their left side. They run on the side of the road; they are passed by vehicles going both ways. After several miles, they are greeted with the friendly sight of buildings. The sun had set, and the lights offered a sense of welcoming the recruits had not felt before. All accustomed to long runs from basic training and selection, the only difficulty they faced was the heat. Even as sunset turned to twilight, the recruits struggled to regulate their body heat, not helped by the warm uniform, definitely not meant to be worn in this heat.
As they got to the first intersection, the furthest group stopped. As Johannes and Erwin caught up to them, they could hear them arguing. “We definitely went straight here!”
“No, dude, this was where we turned.”
“If you want to turn here then go ahead, I'm going straight.”
“I’m going straight, you’re on ice if you think we turned here” one recruit said as he turned and continued straight. He was followed by the majority of the group, but some remained behind.
The recruit who swore they turned began running to the left, he was followed by a small number of recruits. Johannes and Erwin went straight when they made it to the intersection, following the majority.
Another mile or two later, they ran into familiar territory. Johannes could see the building labeled ‘intake’ and was relieved. Johannes and Erwin rounded the last corner, and they were met with the sight of their new barracks. Standing outside were two drill instructors. As the recruits entered, they scanned their wrist, taking the time they took to get back. Johannes went first, he raised his arm letting it be scanned, followed by Erwin. Exhausted, they stumble into their room, and Johannes flops on the bed.
Others stumbled in, followed by the coyote drill sergeant that let them in. He poked his head in and yelled “Lights out, strength test starts at 0400 hours!” He shuts of the lights, not waiting for everyone to get back and ready.
Johannes gets out of his tunic and pants, putting them back in his locker. He tears the covers off of the bottom bunk and slides in. He has a few moments of lucidity to think about how strange and different these first few hours have been, before he is overwhelmed with tiredness, and falls asleep.