I couldn’t believe my luck. And I really didn’t trust it. A few days had passed since Lieutenant Serebryakov had been the voice of Being X, and nothing had seemingly changed. All I could do was really ‘prepare’. Which is to say, prepare for anything. ‘I don’t know what he has planned, but it’s probably got something to do with the Commonwealth.’ Or so I thought, and I thought about it a lot.

The ‘truce’ of the current ‘armistice’ was now extended, and in the last few days there hadn’t even been reports of Republic actions, the shock of the royal family’s mass deaths seems to have caught everybody unawares and unsure of quite how to respond.

‘I can feel Being X behind this. What an infantile child. He killed a whole family just to get me to notice him. I should feel special, but then again, that’s just a waste of human capital, and I can never respect that.’ I know I make a fierce sneer when I’m angry or disgusted, it’s probably part of why people think of me as a monster. I am very well aware that I am not a perfect person, and my personality might even be a bit twisted.

But even so, I’m better than those who don’t just waste their own lives, but everybody else’s too. Were I in charge, I would not waste time, money, or lives on pointless and destructive conflicts.

I couldn’t help but sigh and stretch up on my tiptoes to reach the next book I wanted. Since whatever Being X was scheming definitely involved the Commonwealth, I needed to know more about them. My education in their history was lacking, but I was able to glean a few things.

The Hundred Years War between my world’s England and France had taken place ‘similarly’ here but not exactly. Here the Commonwealth and the Republic started their fighting twenty years earlier, and ended thirty years later. I hopped up, snatched the book by the spine, and dragged it off the shelf. I grunted a little from the force and nearly dropped the damn thing, but caught it at the last minute as I stumbled.

In gold embossed letters rendered grayish by the dust over the cover the title read, ‘From Uncommon Wealth to the Commonwealth, a History of the Peoples of the Isle’.

I almost laughed, I really did. It wasnt’ that I had no use for academics, after all, I was a studious student with studious ways and recognized the value of learning. How could I not? In both the old world as much as this one knowledge was power. Educated men and women held power over the uneducated. Educated men and women could control the minds of the ignorant by baffling them with nonsense or misleading them with a kernel of knowledge wrapped up in a pretty package full of lies.

No, what made me laugh was far simpler. ‘All this man’s work, and nobody has so much as cracked open the cover for at least seventy years.’ It was hard not to laugh at the struggle for relevance and how it all faded into obscurity over time. Based on the interior marks, it hadn’t even been checked out since the mid eighteen hundreds.

I buried my nose in it and sat down in the cheap wooden chair. ‘Why are library chairs always the cheapest kind? We got better seats on the Rhine front.’

I adjusted myself and began to read over the history of the Commonwealth government and culture. Having been Japanese in my previous life, I sadly didn’t know as much about the British as I would have liked. Most of what I knew was rooted in our last war with them, which didn’t give me much more information than that they were stubborn bastards with a ‘stiff upper lip’ which I gather meant that they were supposed to be stoic.

But these weren’t my English.

The Gunpowder Plot, if it happened, wasn’t mentioned.

For all I knew, Guy Fawkes’s ancestor died in the prolonged war against the early Republic, which meant a great deal else might have changed with it. The religious schism was real at least. That led me to notice something. ‘A lot of the leaders of both worlds are either identical or near identical. We have our own Romel here, the United States still had their Washington…’ I admit, if I were of the right sort of person, I might conclude that I was just stuck in a lazily written fiction in which it was just ‘easier’ to keep Queen Victoria than it would be to create a whole new royal family.

But the truth was far uglier. ‘The common dying in shifting numbers and persons, has no real impact on the flow of history. The truly worthwhile will always rise to the top, in every world. And all the rest? They’re always just swept along like so much detritus in the river.’

Being X wanted to make me into the detritus of the world, to subject me to his plans and schemes and force me to play by his rules. ‘Well, I’m not making it easy for you. Go on, go on, send your best! It doesn’t matter! I’ll survive! I’ll win our little game! I’ll pound free market principles into your head no matter how many times I have to try!’

It was probably the furious look on my face that kept me from seeing that I was no longer as alone as I thought I was, given that the new entry to the room had stayed well out of my way.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

I wouldn’t have realized he was there at all, except for hearing the voice of General Zettour. “No wonder you were taking so long.”

I looked up from the book and saw a green private who was practically shaking in his boots, and beside him, General Hans Von Zettour stood and said, “You can go ahead and go, I’ll deliver this myself. I wanted to do some reading after this anyway.”

“Sir!” I said and popped up into the position of attention.

“At ease, Major.” He gave me a dismissive wave and gestured to the chair I’d just risen from. Please, have a seat. What are you reading?”

One thing I have long understood about General Zettour is he’s a true scholar, so much so that he’s almost unsuited for the military. If he’d made a few different choices, I’m sure he would be very comfortable as a University professor writing books like this one. He’s less interested in ceremony than he is in results. On the one hand, it’s almost relaxing. On the other? Well, if I make a mistake, it’s jarring to not even be able to apologize for it.

All I could do was go along with the pace he set and allow him to guide our interactions. So far that has worked well, and I went with it now. I flipped the cover over, keeping my finger in place to mark my page.

“I see.” He said, his gray brow furrowed a little, “Since when have you taken an interest in the history of the Commonwealth?”

‘Shit! I can’t very well say, ‘I got a clue from Being X that we might have a problem, or I might have a problem relating to them’ so I just thought I’d do some reading about my future enemy?’ I thought, and my mind raced as I jumped to the only logical answer.

“Sir, with the fall of Dacia, the Entente Alliance, and the Republic, we have only one overtly hostile enemy right now. The Commonwealth.”

He rubbed his chin the same way he did when I first proposed the 203rd. The last time he did that, I ended up wondering how I’d ended up on the front lines all over again.

‘I’ll just have to try to step around the problem, whatever it is, as much as possible.’ I told myself and chose my words carefully, whatever it was… I didn’t want to step in anything.

“I think it’s important to know our enemies, so we can plan appropriate countermeasures. What I mean is, their royal family,” I opened the book again and tapped my finger on the page, “has been there for so long they’re a cultural icon. Even if their parliament holds most of the political power, the monarchy has become the traditional voice of the people, an advocate on their behalf to the traditional legislatures. With the family dead, the people will be voiceless, I’d hate to think what might occur if someone like Churbull were to come to power.”

Winston Churbull was a warhawk, I can scarcely think of a fight he didn’t love to get involved in, even if he was rather lacking in tactical or strategic talent, he did have a talent for rabble rousing. I’d heard his broadcasts a few times, urging his people to end the armistice and renew the war, but his voice was blunted by the more reasonable Queen.

“That’s… interesting. Yes, a very interesting thought. I hadn’t considered something like that.” Hans Zettour set his hand down on the table, “I’d like to borrow that book when you’re through with it, Major.”

“Of course, Sir, but… forgive me, what was that soldier doing here?” I asked, and he actually cracked a little smile.

“I’d sent him to retrieve you, Major. Something interesting has come up.” I’d known him for quite some time now, and ‘interesting’ seldom popped out of his mouth more than once, and it always involved mysteries and hypotheticals.

That’s the other thing, he never said something was ‘interesting’ if he understood it.

And somehow every time he used the word around me, I ended up getting shot at. Oh, how I wished he was bored more often.

I couldn’t say that, of course. “Interesting? How, Sir? What can I do?” Always show an attitude of positivity and volunteerism around the brass, and then just get out of it if possible. That’s the best way to stay safe, though… I never had much luck with the last part.

“Major, what do you know about your parents?” He asked, “I’m sorry if I’m bringing up a sore subject, but if you don’t mind, it’s important.”

“My father was a soldier. My mother… I don’t remember her. All she told the orphanage when I got old enough to learn the truth, was that he was ‘a brave soldier and a strong man, and that she was sorry.’ More than that, I never knew. She left no name, no address, just little me. I did ask, a few times, but nothing ever came of it, so?” I exhaled, “I stopped worrying about it.”

Zettour seemed briefly taken aback, he neither furrowed his brow nor rubbed his chin nor even asked another question. He instead bowed his head to me and said, “I brought up something really terrible. Forgive me.”

I tried to blow it off with a laugh, but it came out a little nervous, “It’s fine.” I said. “The Army is the only life I have now, yes, it’s dangerous and I might not get to grow up, but what else can I do? My country is in danger, my father defended it, though whether he died doing it or not, I guess I’ll never know. Now it’s my turn to do what he did and hope for the best?” I hated bringing up the fact that I was a young girl, I certainly didn’t want to be pitied.

But if it kept me away from the front lines? It was no worse than wearing that stupid dress, makeup, and putting on that silly voice for interviews. Besides, they should feel bad, sending children off to war is just ‘asking’ to get rid of your human resources.

“I see. Well then, Major, I have an important task for you. Maybe nothing will come of it. But if what they say is possible, is actually true, you won’t have to worry about getting shot at on the front lines anymore. Are you willing to come along?” He asked. “It might mean a dramatic change in your current circumstances, and it might mean leaving the 203rd behind.”

“Sir, what my country needs, I am prepared to do.” I tried to sound stoic, but my heart was singing as I closed the book and slid it across the desk to him. The final words on the page that I’d been reading were for the moment, forgotten.

I had no idea how much they would haunt me later.