Chapter Two Thousand Six Hundred Ninety-Six
7th July 1978
Giant Mountains near Neu Mohrau, Silesia
Wait for further instructions had been the last orders that Niko had received. That was one of the oldest aspects of being in the Army, hurry up and wait. The trouble was that the vast majority of the men of Niko’s Platoon were not regular soldiers. There was also the aspect that most of the junior enlisted were University Students from Breslau and all the Noncoms were Tradesmen from local industry. All of them liked the perks that came with being in the Silesian Reserve Corps, however when it came time to pay the Piper none of them were thrilled. There was also the reason why they had been ordered up into the mountains in the first place. While Niko was just as much in the dark as they were, you didn’t need to be a genius to figure what several Divisions spread across a wide geographical region and the instructions that they had been given meant. This was the sort of thing that they would do in the event of a nuclear war.
That was where the real trouble began.
Many of the students were understandably nihilistic, saying that the best use of their time would be to just go to the top of the highest ridge and watch the pretty lightshow as Western Civilization immolated itself. The others, who had families and lives to go back to took a dim view of that perspective. For Niko, the alert followed by getting sent to what had been called an “Advanced position” had come at an annoying time. Like the other University students present, he had the exams that marked the end of the term upcoming. He was also supposed to be preparing to go to Argentina in a few weeks.
When Niko had mentioned his interest in going back to South America to his father, he had discovered that his father was more than happy to facilitate that. It had turned out that the amount of property that the family owned in Argentina was more extensive and far more lucrative than they had realized, and someone needed to go down there to see to its disposition. Niko had volunteered to do that. The trouble was that this alert had come down before he’d had a chance to leave.
Now that he was in the Giant Mountains, the flaws of this plan were painfully obvious to him. If there really had been a nuclear attack, the heavy industry of Silesia and Bohemia would be high-value targets. These mountains would inevitably be blanketed with fallout. You only needed to see how sulfur dioxide from the smokestacks affected the trees around them to see the reality of the situation. There was also the issue of water, everything they did depended on finding an uncontaminated source. Good luck with that.
That was the reason why Niko was writing a letter to his Aunt Helene. While his Superiors would probably be furious if they knew that he was writing to a politician, a letter to his Aunt and Uncle telling them that he was well and including his observations about life in the field were harmless enough. Aunt Helene was shrewd enough to be able to read between the lines. For Niko it had been a bit of a surprise to learn how his Aunt was regarded by the Soldaten. She had been one of the first to call for the end of the Patagonian War, the welfare of the soldiers and their families was something that had been a significant issue for her. When Niko thought about it, Aunt Helene was the daughter, wife, and mother of soldiers. Finally, Democratic Ecology had part of its platform the prohibition of nuclear arms. The events of the last few days had placed a whole lot of emphasis on that.
With that, the sound of motorcycle coming up the fire trail was heard. Niko had read accounts of the First World War and how riders had been as key to communications then as they were now. It was a way of passing information that was about as secure as possible if speed wasn’t an issue. The motorcycle was a militarized version of the BMW K4, was a large change from the First World War. Having actual brakes for starters.
The motorcycle stopped and Niko watched as the rider pulled a stack of letters out of the saddlebags and handed it to the Hauptfeldwebel. They had only been out here for a few days. It was a bit of a stretch to think that they would be getting any mail already. Niko figured that is was an effort by Regimental Headquarters to forward their mail from home, perhaps a note from home, for morale purposes. The result was them getting bills while they were not in a position to do anything about them. Niko had seen a movie a few years earlier set during the Soviet War where letters from home turned into the darkest sort of coal black humor as months old past due notices and a letter notifying the receiver of pending repossession arrived. There was also the macabre spectacle of getting letters from a dead relative whose funeral the receiver had been granted leave to attend.
“One for you Leutnant” The Hauptfeldwebel said as he handed a letter to Niko.
Tearing it open, Niko saw that it was from Monique. With everything that had happened he had forgotten about the conversation that they’d had last week. She had wanted to talk to her grandfather before she agreed to travel with him. It seemed that Piers Sjostedt had felt that seeing the wider world beyond Flensburg would be good for her. There was also the aspect that her taking a vacation from her great aunts would be good for everyone else. Niko didn’t disagree with that, even Bas was scared of those three.
7th July 1978
Giant Mountains near Neu Mohrau, Silesia
Wait for further instructions had been the last orders that Niko had received. That was one of the oldest aspects of being in the Army, hurry up and wait. The trouble was that the vast majority of the men of Niko’s Platoon were not regular soldiers. There was also the aspect that most of the junior enlisted were University Students from Breslau and all the Noncoms were Tradesmen from local industry. All of them liked the perks that came with being in the Silesian Reserve Corps, however when it came time to pay the Piper none of them were thrilled. There was also the reason why they had been ordered up into the mountains in the first place. While Niko was just as much in the dark as they were, you didn’t need to be a genius to figure what several Divisions spread across a wide geographical region and the instructions that they had been given meant. This was the sort of thing that they would do in the event of a nuclear war.
That was where the real trouble began.
Many of the students were understandably nihilistic, saying that the best use of their time would be to just go to the top of the highest ridge and watch the pretty lightshow as Western Civilization immolated itself. The others, who had families and lives to go back to took a dim view of that perspective. For Niko, the alert followed by getting sent to what had been called an “Advanced position” had come at an annoying time. Like the other University students present, he had the exams that marked the end of the term upcoming. He was also supposed to be preparing to go to Argentina in a few weeks.
When Niko had mentioned his interest in going back to South America to his father, he had discovered that his father was more than happy to facilitate that. It had turned out that the amount of property that the family owned in Argentina was more extensive and far more lucrative than they had realized, and someone needed to go down there to see to its disposition. Niko had volunteered to do that. The trouble was that this alert had come down before he’d had a chance to leave.
Now that he was in the Giant Mountains, the flaws of this plan were painfully obvious to him. If there really had been a nuclear attack, the heavy industry of Silesia and Bohemia would be high-value targets. These mountains would inevitably be blanketed with fallout. You only needed to see how sulfur dioxide from the smokestacks affected the trees around them to see the reality of the situation. There was also the issue of water, everything they did depended on finding an uncontaminated source. Good luck with that.
That was the reason why Niko was writing a letter to his Aunt Helene. While his Superiors would probably be furious if they knew that he was writing to a politician, a letter to his Aunt and Uncle telling them that he was well and including his observations about life in the field were harmless enough. Aunt Helene was shrewd enough to be able to read between the lines. For Niko it had been a bit of a surprise to learn how his Aunt was regarded by the Soldaten. She had been one of the first to call for the end of the Patagonian War, the welfare of the soldiers and their families was something that had been a significant issue for her. When Niko thought about it, Aunt Helene was the daughter, wife, and mother of soldiers. Finally, Democratic Ecology had part of its platform the prohibition of nuclear arms. The events of the last few days had placed a whole lot of emphasis on that.
With that, the sound of motorcycle coming up the fire trail was heard. Niko had read accounts of the First World War and how riders had been as key to communications then as they were now. It was a way of passing information that was about as secure as possible if speed wasn’t an issue. The motorcycle was a militarized version of the BMW K4, was a large change from the First World War. Having actual brakes for starters.
The motorcycle stopped and Niko watched as the rider pulled a stack of letters out of the saddlebags and handed it to the Hauptfeldwebel. They had only been out here for a few days. It was a bit of a stretch to think that they would be getting any mail already. Niko figured that is was an effort by Regimental Headquarters to forward their mail from home, perhaps a note from home, for morale purposes. The result was them getting bills while they were not in a position to do anything about them. Niko had seen a movie a few years earlier set during the Soviet War where letters from home turned into the darkest sort of coal black humor as months old past due notices and a letter notifying the receiver of pending repossession arrived. There was also the macabre spectacle of getting letters from a dead relative whose funeral the receiver had been granted leave to attend.
“One for you Leutnant” The Hauptfeldwebel said as he handed a letter to Niko.
Tearing it open, Niko saw that it was from Monique. With everything that had happened he had forgotten about the conversation that they’d had last week. She had wanted to talk to her grandfather before she agreed to travel with him. It seemed that Piers Sjostedt had felt that seeing the wider world beyond Flensburg would be good for her. There was also the aspect that her taking a vacation from her great aunts would be good for everyone else. Niko didn’t disagree with that, even Bas was scared of those three.
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