A Question

Ugh… this looks disgusting. Wilhelm stared down what was supposed to be a meal, surrounded by the other soldiers in the mess hall. Over the last month, the squad members of each group had been selected by Captain Joseph and quartered alongside their officers, the Cyberitters. The quiet halls turned boisterous, and stretched to feed more and more soldiers, the food had only gotten worse. Even a lieutenant, like Wilhelm, could expect little.

On his plate, something very little, indeed, awaited him: a brown bowl of indistinguishable slop. The person who handed out their meals had merely grunted when Wilhelm asked what the mysterious liquid was, so he chose not to press the issue. Picking up his spoon, he swirled the liquid and sniffed it. Oatmeal? That didn’t seem quite right, but it was the closest thing.

Next to him, a familiar figure sat down and laughed at his apprehension.

“Come on, Wil,” Levin said. “We had worse than this back at Saint Ella’s... Probably.”

“Yeah, and we signed up for the military to get out of that place, remember?”

Levin ate a spoonful, shrugging. “And this is the cost. Gotta take the bad with the good, right?”

Wilhelm sighed, then swallowed a small amount of the stuff. To his dismay, the food wasn’t as bad as he had expected. At least then, it would be memorable. Instead, it tasted like nothing at all, even with the sugar ration that the unfriendly man had given, begrudgingly.

Levin laughed. “You know, you could just eat with the rest of the fat cats. I hear you guys get special meals in the captain’s office… Want to pass one on to me, pal?”

“Fat chance,” Wilhelm replied. “Yeah, the captain’s got better stuff, but he’s not sharing it. Not yet. Says we’ve got to prove ourselves in the field…” He’s just holding out on us, bastard.

“Hey, we’ll get our chance soon, Wil. Count on it.” Then, a silence hung over the two. Berlin had held out this long, giving Wilhelm and his peers time to train their skills. None of them had engaged in practice duels, but Wilhelm felt confident in his control over his cybersuit after countless hours at the training yard. When Captain Joseph makes the call… I’ll be ready.

“Wilhelm, right? The captain wants us for a meeting and sent me to get you.” Wilhelm looked up at the source of the voice and found Rudolf Wilder, the ace of the Cyberitters. The two had never interacted much, but Wilhelm knew plenty about the man. He looked like a model soldier: a perfectly tucked and buttoned uniform, dark black hair cut short to specifications, and posture comparable to one of the barracks' pillars. He always looks the part, huh?

Wilhelm forced down the last of the gruel and stood up. “I won’t be there for them, but make sure the guys do their drills properly, Levin. You’re the NCO for a reason, got it?”

Levin smiled. “Got it, ‘sir.’”

Wilhelm and Rudolf walked towards their destination in silence. They had little to say to one another, beyond talk of their missions; that said, Wilhelm didn’t know if he had much to say to anyone. Both he and Storm always felt unapproachable to him. That hadn’t changed any in the last month, as he’d not seen much of either outside of the mandatory weekly meetings. He assumed neither were interested in anything but their own motives, and he respected them for it. Because of this, Wilhelm was surprised when Rudolf spoke first.

“This meeting’s timing is… irregular, wouldn’t you say?”

Wilhelm took a few moments to process this. “Uh, yeah.” Great first impression, me.

Rudolf continued. “The captain’s followed a strict schedule, up to now. Weekly meetings on our progress as Cyberitters, and nothing more. To deviate from that must mean something.”

“You think there’s some kind of emergency?”

Rudolf’s eyes narrowed. “In all likelihood, yes. What kind, I don’t know for certain, but…”

“Only one thing comes to mind, right? He’s getting us ready to deploy."

“...Yes, that’s what I would bet on.” Rudolf stood before the door to the captain’s office and grabbed the handle. “But whether the moment of truth comes now or later, our duties remain. ...Say, Wilhelm. You’re German too, right?”

“Yeah. Grew up in Berlin, actually. It's funny, being this close to home.” Wilhelm did not smile.

“Ah, I'm from Munich. Still, we're countrymen, so let's work together to ensure that the NSR retreats, for good. Our people's lives are in the balance… We can't let them down.”

He opened the door and walked inside. Wilhelm followed, taking a seat between Rudolf and Mathilde. The captain had already darkened the room, and the hologram map of east Germany laid in front of them with new markings by Berlin. Mathilde moved to say something to Wilhelm, but then, the captain shot a glare towards the two, stopping them in their tracks.

“It’s time to get started, so keep your mouths shut. As some of you may have guessed, we don’t have any more time to waste here. New reports from Berlin indicate a greater focus on taking the city from the New Soviet Republic, with more and more exosuit pilots deployed there.”

He pressed a button on the hologram disk, zooming further into Berlin and adding a much bigger, red dot. The captain looked at Wilhelm again, but this time, it wasn’t a look of reproach. 

“What’s more, there are reports now of something worse than average grunts. Leading them is a man that the EIF has wanted dead for decades. A man named for the near certain death that awaits you, if you meet him on the battlefield… That is, the Red Reaper.”

A sudden chill ran through Wilhelm. He didn’t hear much of what Captain Joseph had to say, during the rest of the meeting, though it ran long. At its end, the rest of the Cyberitters, with somber faces, stood up and filed out of the doors. Rudolf looked back at Wilhelm as he walked and gave him a short nod before leaving. Finally, Mathilde and Wilhelm left the room.

He didn’t recall much of what they’d said, at that moment, as they each walked back to their rooms. But he did remember the first question that she’d asked him, as they left.

“Wil… Why are you smiling?”