Moving Forward

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Wilhelm?” Wilhelm’s back slammed into the wall. He looked back at his assailant. Rudolf’s amber eyes glowed like fire.

“My job,” Wilhelm said. “I took out their leader and ended it. What’s the problem?”

“The problem?” Rudolf said.

His fist flew, whizzing right by Wilhelm’s ear and slamming into the wall. Wilhelm looked over at Rudolf's hand, a trickle of blood streaming from its knuckles.

“The problem is that you nearly lost your whole squad. Who do you think picked up the pieces while you were off on your manhunt? Who do you think lost comrades of their own, dealing with the chaos that you made? Who, Wilhelm?”

Wilhelm said nothing.

“That’s right: me, Damian, and Mathilde. Look, I won’t pretend that losing people isn’t a reality of war, but you’re not a one-man army, and acting like one could get the rest of us killed.”

“...Sorry. I did what I thought was right.” Wilhelm walked away to Captain Joseph’s room. The conversation over, Rudolf followed close behind. Both of them, along with the rest of the Cyberitters, had to take part in another one of the captain’s meetings, but this one, Wilhelm wagered, would be far more substantial. Probably plenty of complaints about me, too.

The meeting room was split. On one side sat Team A, made up of the people that Wilhelm had fought alongside during the mission to protect Fort Ackermann. On the other side sat Team B: Storm, Aurelia, Florent, and Bowie. For the most part, Wilhelm had only a passing familiarity with those people, aside from Aurelia who he avoided at all costs.

At the moment, she seemed utterly uninterested in the meeting. Instead, she looked at her cellphone and used it as a mirror, messing with her frizzy, brown hair. But just as Wilhelm’s eyes began to look away, Aurelia had noticed that they were there. She gave him a slash of a smile and mouthed something that Wilhelm couldn’t make out. Better not to know.

Then, the customary darkness set in, and the captain’s hologram map flew up. Wilhelm thought for a moment about the purpose of it. Maybe the captain's just a fan of theatrics?

“Time to get down to business. Aurelia, put that phone away,” Captain Joseph said. Then, Wilhelm snickered, but he caught a glare from the captain that made him regret it.

“This was your first operation. An easy one, in my opinion, but still, you all did well. You showed the power of these new cybersuits… And you showed that the good doctor still deserves a job, so I’m sure he’s thankful. But I’m not as easily impressed as he is.”

Then, the captain turned to Wilhelm. “Let’s get the obvious out of the way; I expect all of you to follow my orders and not take on any action that could compromise the mission. Yesterday, the plan was to hit each flank hard, as a unit. Frei, what happened?”

Wilhelm squirmed in his seat. “I… saw an opportunity to end the battle early, sir.”

“I admire the initiative, but your actions weakened the assault on the left flank and forced your allies to deal with a greater load. Worst of all, you left your squad out to dry during all this.”

Then, Rudolf spoke. “We did the best that we could to reduce the casualties, sir.”

“Right. Looking at the data here… We lost around fifty people, all told. Most of those were in the main force, before the ambush. Meanwhile, the Republic lost around five times that number, half the force that they sent to Fort Ackermann. It’s a resounding victory, no doubt.”

“And isn’t that thanks to Wilhelm?” Damian said, to Wilhelm’s surprise. “Look, I won’t pretend that it wasn’t messy when he left, but the Soviets were organized. Without him cutting off the head of the snake, who knows how many more we could’ve lost trying to reach it?”

“I agree wholeheartedly,” Mathilde said. “Yes, he should’ve brought his squad along and communicated better to Rudolf and the rest of us, but he took an opportunity that no one else was bold enough to seize. Less blood was shed, thanks to him. Should that not be lauded?”

“Praise the actions, not the results,” the captain said. “Frei, if you were to do what you did again, ten times over, do you think that you’d succeed each of those ten times?”

Wilhelm thought it over. “No, sir. I took a risk, and I’ll admit that.”

“Good. Then understand something; had you failed, we would’ve lost many more soldiers, along with your cybersuit, which alone is worth more than any one... no, any hundred of your lives. Anyway, there’s a time for risks: an ambush where we have the advantage isn’t one.”

“...Yes, sir. I won’t do it again.”

“And if you do, bring your squad or another one. You’re all on a team, so act like it. That also means not throwing a fellow soldier under the bus for their failures.” The captain briefly turned towards Rudolf, who shrunk. “Now, that’s enough about all of that. Let’s move on.”

The captain’s hologram changed. Instead of the familiar sight of Berlin and the imagery of soldier movement by arrow, it panned further east to a new, red dot. This one had many more forces surrounding it, and Wilhelm was puzzled. We’re already going further east?

“There was one, small issue with the way that we won. It being so decisive meant that the remaining Soviets in the area caught wind of their loss quickly and fled back east. Our missiles caught a few of them, but most made it back to a key, safe position of theirs.”

“Warsaw,” Rudolf muttered. “They must have a missile defense system, right?”

“It’s difficult to find any fort that doesn’t,” the captain replied. “We suspect that the Red Reaper has remained here, giving orders to the men sent to Berlin. And since we can’t bomb them out, that leaves us with only one option: a siege. That’s where you all come in.”

That’s what the Soviets tried to do here, though. This thought was not unique to Wilhelm; many others had questioning looks on their faces. But Storm? She looked the same as always. Wilhelm wasn’t sure she had any expression available, beyond a cool, disinterested gaze. Then, to his shock, she spoke, in the same monotonous tone as she had after their practice match.

“Captain… We won’t win in a siege. What’s the real plan?”

When she spoke, everyone turned and listened. Perhaps it was because she rarely talked in meetings, or perhaps it was because her white flash of hair stood out in the dark. Either way, the captain’s scarred mouth curled into a smile, shocking Wilhelm further.

“Sharp as always, Storm. Yeah, we’ve got no chance in a full-on siege. Putting aside the usual problems, the Red Reaper’s called that for a reason. In any normal fight, where he’s got the advantage? Well… anyone who’s seen that railgun he uses can attest to the fallout.”

Wilhelm felt his teeth grit. That… thing, blew people away like they’d never been there. It was one of the strongest pieces of Soviet engineering, and in his hands, it killed thousands.

“I’ll tell you more when we’re closer, but suffice it to say, you all have a more important role than sitting outside Warsaw’s walls and pissing the days away. For now, though, we’ll march with the rest of the EIF. Pack your bags because we’re leaving within the week. Dismissed!”

____________________________________________________________________________

A few days later, Wilhelm left the base. The captain approved his outing, surprisingly, on the condition that he could come along. With Levin in tow, and the captain driving, the three arrived at Wilhelm’s destination: an old, destroyed suburb, one with a name remembered by few. The captain remained in the car, lighting a cigar in the rain and looking up at the clouds.

Levin and Wilhelm left the car, trudging up to the top of a winding, lush hill. They looked down at the devastated town below, now dilapidated and forgotten.

“Hard to imagine it’s been ten years, huh?” Levin spoke first.

“Yeah, and we still haven’t made good on our promise.”

“Maybe, but we’ve taken our first steps… Well, you took most of them, striking down all those Soviet pilots. Congrats, man.”

Wilhelm scoffed. “They’re just small fries. The real enemy’s waiting for us in Warsaw.”

“Every dead red counts, but you’re right. Just… We’re in it together, Wil. So don’t leave me behind again, okay?”

“...I won’t, Levin. When I kill the Red Reaper, you’ll be right next to me. I promise.”

“Oh? Well, what if I beat you to it?”

Wilhelm laughed. “Not happening.”

“Wanna bet on it?”

“Sure, sure. Later, though. We've gotta get back to the captain before he soaks.”

They walked back down the hill, both sure that they would never return again.