In that moment, Mark Aubrey was feeling great. That would have been his last working days in the small and old office. Because tomorrow would have been the beginning of his new life. A life as a junior partner of Hirsch, one of the biggest law firms in LC. A life which had begun some eight months ago, when he had received the e-mail from the Grand Duchy of Reziel.
In the beginning, he had thought it was just a joke. There was no way on earth to achieve what the boy wanted. And above all, Mark hated the idea to work gratis once again. But the Rezielan he had been intriguing. He seemed so sure of what he was saying. In the end, Mark had decided to take the risk. It would have been nor his first nor his last hopeless battle. So, he had gone to the Federal Bureau of Transportations, requesting a driving license on behalf of this seventeen-years old Rezielan. And when the Bureau had rejected it because the applicant wasnt of age, Mark realized the boy he had met wasnt a regular one.
Via e-mail, he had laughed. It seemed the rejection was exactly what he had expected. And when he had told Mark what to do next, the young lawyer had been more and more surprised. The Rezielan had begun explaining his own strategy and in the end, Mark was convinced they had a chance. The loophole the Rezielan had found could have worked.
And it had. The FPSian bureaucracy had opposed a strenuous resistance, quoting commas and articles and old laws and unused principles but each time the Rezielan seemed just one step ahead. There had been hearings during which Mark had done nothing else but offering the counter-arguments the Rezielan had already pointed him before the arguments themselves had been used by the different Bureaus. It just seemed the boy had studied the whole FPSian case law by heart. And after a while, someone inside the apparatus had realized where Mark was going on. Five days after, the Bureaus had withdrawn their objections. Obviously enough, the loophole would have been erased pretty soon but such a modification wouldnt have been retroactive. And Jordan Carlyle had had his driving license. At seventeen.
«Mark weve got to go»
Nodding to his secretary, Mark smiled and checked the FedEx website for a last time. According to the tracking system, the envelopment was going to be delivered at Shiro Academy that very morning. Chuckling, Mark turned the computer off. A new life. A new life begun with an e-mail. An e-mail which had brought his name on the first pages of some newspapers: the lawyer who had done the miracle, defeating the omnipotent bureaucracy. Laughing, Mark Aubrey rose on his feet.
“She is a new Shiro transfer apparently. Supposedly an NCO from the Royal Dannistrian Dannistrian Navy,” Nee’la answered, “However for some reason she really freaked out on seeing your pet…I better head back and see if she is alright.”
Nee’la walks off back up the corridor towards the commons. Sha’la shrugged at Anna.
“I don’t know much about her either, other than she holds the rank of Petty Officer and that she is obviously of British extraction as opposed to us other Dannistrians. I would go as far to say she is only Dannistrian by citizenship and that her parents are probably ex-pats. Her Dannistrian is a bit shaky and so is the accent. Also she seems awfully nervous. I’m not sure if it’s nerves or if she really is easily scared. Sah’mahn’th seems to be very twitchy.”
Sha’la checked her cellphone quickly for messages.
“I would go as far as to say she looks too young to be a Petty Officer. Maybe she lucked out. Maybe she is aiming for a desk job, I don’t know. What I do know is that for a member of the armed forces she seems awfully fragile. Maybe I’m being too harsh but in the Dannistrian Army they would crank up the stress levels on recruits to both toughen them up and weed out those who would easily freak out and I’m sure from my uncles stories they did the same in the navy…”[hr]Nee’la made her way back to the commons where the others were still standing outside. Sah’mahn’th was sitting down on the floor extremely distressed as the other three Dannistrians tried to talk some sense into her. Nee’la asked them all to stand aside.
“OK Sah’mahn’th. You needn’t worry, the creature is at the other side of the hallway. Let’s just go outside for some fresh air, OK?” Nee’la asked in her soothing nurse’s voice.
Initially Sah’mahn’th looked at her silently, then accepted help in standing up.
“…Is…is it…dangerous?”
“Only if you threaten it’s owner it seems or if you annoy it excessively,” Nee’la reassured Sah’mahn’th, “Now, let us go outside and forget about it…”
Nee’la escorted Sah’mahn’th gingerly outside, mouthing “I’ll see you lot later,” to Kah’lad, Li and Nah’diir, who all nodded silently. The three decided to enter the commons to see it already had a few people in. They all waved before heading to the other end to make themselves some drinks.
As Jordan and László laughed at the Rezielans last statement, three more persons entered the commons. They were waving at everybody and at nobody at the same time. Looking at the perfect uniforms, Jordan wondered where they were from. When they begun making drinks instead of simply grabbing something from the fridge, Jordan smiled, turning towards the Lazlowian.
«You know just to avoid staying here on our own as two grumbling bears, we could reach the three newcomers and say hello, cant we?»
[hr]
Room assignment office
Meanwhile
Looking at the clock, the courier silently cursed. He was late. Very late. He had three more delivers scheduled for that morning, and those silly members of the Academy Staff had forced him to waste half an hour looking for a suitable place to park his little van. And in the end what the hell did suitable mean? A suitable place was just a place big enough to host it for five minutes, after all. Oh no. There things werent so simple.
Still swearing by himself, he approached the desk, nodding to the kimono-dressed suite before focusing on the other young girl. A nice one. A pity he had no time to chat with her.
«Sorry to bother, honey. A shipment for a uhm .» begun the courier, throwing a quick glance at the small envelopment «Jordan Carlyle. Shiro Academy, Dorm C-10, Room 434. Tell me Im so lucky I can give it to you, without having to look for this guy throughout the whole camp»
“-Yes we can do that.”-said László, looking at their uniforms. He had a book titled “The Uniforms of the World 1900-2007”, which he read during the summer, but he didn’t recognized the uniform.
“-You know, I would be a soldier now in Lazlowia, but my father said, that it’s better to join the army, when I’m 21. My father is actually a commander at the air force, and he also fought during the civil war.”
“Yea, sure.” Jill stated, momentarily turning away from the little girl to deal with the courier. “I can sign for it, if you need.” The man immediately produced a clipboard, which she signed (several times over), before he handed her the package.
“Thanks.” He stated, before bustling back towards the exit.
“Yep.” Taking the envelope, she set it on the pile of things she still needed to get done that day, as a reminder to herself.
As the two of them approached the cocktails-making Dannistrians, Jordan grinned.
«You know, László I think your father is right. Becoming a soldier a bit later seems definitely more appealing than a bit sooner. I mean the risks, the discipline and the do this, do that nah, definitely not the life Id like» he chuckled.
As the Lazlowian stared, Jordan simply winked before turning towards the other students.
«Hi, guys! Would you mind, should the two of us join you with those drinks?»
«Jordan, from Solanthus. And the shy guy at my side is Comrade László. Were both new here while you seem a bit more used to the place, arent you? And above all nice uniforms. Where are you from, you all soldiers?»
Shigeru stared into nothing as the voice spoke. He felt the urge to slam the phone down but supressed it. “Wakarimasen” He paused slightly, choosing his words. “Deme … Itsu desu ka”
The voice on the end of the phone sighed. “Just tell Prince Hirohito.” Silence seemed to creep back into the room and the voice was replaced with the disconnected tone.
Shakily he got to his feet. He had no idea where Hiro would be and this would be the kind of information that needed to be passed on face to face. “Iie…” muttered Shigeru weakly “Hirohito-sama,” he slowly moved towards the doorway of the house supplied kindly by The Imperial Family, “Sumimasen.”
OOC: Sorry if I just butchered the Japanese language…
“I’m Kah’lad Forr’sith”, Kah’lad introduced himself, “And yes I am a soldier. Private in the Dannistrian army.”
Kah’lad took a sip from the strange concoction of a drink. Several fruit juices mixed with the colours forming into a tornado shaped mass.
“Nah’diir Sith’hou, also holding rank of Private,” Nah’diir spoke as he carefully monitored the tea he was brewing. He added a few tea leaves gingerly to the swirling hot water in the cup.
“Also master brewer of tea,” Kah’lad jokingly said, prompting a small smile from Nah’diir.
“Li Chan-wook…and before you ask, I’m not Dannistrian nor am I from the army. I’m an Royal Dannistrian Airforce officer and I’m originally from Bai Lung, hence my different ethnic appearence,” Li stated. His drink consisted of a cup of coffee.
“I need caffeine,” he jokingly said, “Caffeine is bad for you, yet good at the same time. If you can reconcile that dichotomy, you’ll understand why we military types need coffee. And strong coffee at that.”
This prompted some laughter from Kah’lad and Nah’diir.
“We are all from Dannistaan though,” Kah’lad stated, “It’s a small island nation in the south western part of the region. And yes, we are used to this place. I have been here for around two years, Nah’diir for just over half and Li has been here for several months. So, Jordan, I take it you aren’t from the military then? Are you an Artist? Lawyer? Scientist? Engineer? None of the above?”
«Yeah… it’s…» Nöêl didn’t finish her sentance because she heard someone speak of tea. This made her remember the chai ingredients she’d so masterfully packed in her suitcase to evade customs. «It doesn’t matter, we need chai» she said with an almost robotic tone. She ran to her room, pulled out the kit, and ran back to the kitchenette. «Hello all» she said quickly before dumping everything out of the cupboards to find an electric samovar she’d seen the year before. She then immediately set to work mixing up the ingredients and fooling with the complicated settings on the machine. Finally, surrounded in a mess of pots, pans, spices, and herbs she presented herself. «I’m Nöêl-F’ana Nah’lo Föêrvâs from Dovakhan and Tokana. Do excuse the mess, I’ve been deprived of chai nearly all summer» she said with a giggle.
Observing with an amused smile the tea-war between the young Dovakhanese and Nahdiir, Jordan took with a thankful nod the cup the latter finally handed him, then smiled warmly to Kah’lad.
«None of the above would definitely be a great answer but I suppose Im a would-be-lawyer is the most accurate. Aside that definitely not in the Army. I really admire you all soldiers but thats definitely something I could never do» trying to sip a bit of tea, he smiled.
«It smells great, but its still a bit too hot! However the Air Force, Li? Really? Ive a uhm a friend in the Rezielan AF. Shes in Airbus, now. She flies an F22, if Im not wrong and it seems shes pretty good at it» he chuckled.
“We were supposed to be receiving a shipment of F-22’s ourselves,” Li said, “But annoyingly, the people selling us those planes are dragging their feet over the sale, so the Ministry of Defence has sort of given up, cut the order and instead approached a Russian factory to order several Su-37’s instead. I have no idea what they will be like though as I’ve never flown anything Russian, although the airforce itself keeps several types of Russian aircraft including several Tu-95 Bear bombers.”
“Well, that means little to us army grunts,” Kah’lad joked, “And indeed it is a hard job in the Dannistrian Army. Some would say it is especially hard in all Dannistrian armed forces as they deiberately put new recruits into the deep end and pull no punches over what is expected of them.”
Winking jokingly at Li while sipping his tea finally drinkable -, Jordan nodded to Kah’lad.
«You know Im beginning to think theres a specific part of your ground troops training which involves being able to complain always and about anything»
Seeing Kah’lads face slightly darkening, Jordan couldnt avoid chuckling.
«Sorry Im obviously joking. Its just that youve reminded me of Arian so much almost the same things and the same tone, which is definitely more impressive. Uhm probably my theory about the standard training isnt that foolish, is it?» chuckled the Rezielan.
“Mmm…” Kah’lad mumbled, “It depends. The Dannistrian military philosphy is that they deliberately overcompensate for things so when that one in a million extreme circumstance comes up, the troops do not automatically fall apart. This is due to the small size of our nation, more than anything else. So depending on what armed force you are in and what section of that armed force, the training can be really intense. Especially in some of the elite units. I should know,” he said.
Kah’lad put down his drink and rolled up his right sleeve to reveal the tatoo on his upper right arm… http://homepage.ntlworld.com/danny.hui/assortedcrap/ns/tatoo2.gif
In the past, warriors of the tribe would be given a tatoo depending on what tribe they were in and their speciality. As a carry over of those ancient traditions, Army soldiers often get a tatoo signifing their profession and chosen specialist, if any. I used to be ashamed and nervous over mine, but it’s become something of a symbol of pride for me.
Observing the tattoo, Jordan frowned slightly, as if the Dannistrian had involuntarily brought sad remembrances to him. But immediately after, he smiled with enthusiasm.
«Hey that reminds me of something Ive seen somewhere. It its somehow related to those famous armored cores of yours, right? And the red strip I know I should remember its meaning. Something about the campaigns youve fought or something like that, isnt it?»
“I’m guessing Arian told you a lot about us,” Kah’lad mused, “Yeah. The tatoo is supposed to symbolise a stylised raven’s head. The raven, in Dannistrian culture, is a bird that is seen as a symbol of death and destruction. So it is both feared and revered in equal measure. It would seem someone had the smart idea to name us armored core pilots, ‘Ravens’ because of this. Armored cores being essentially oversized robots. Bi-pedal tanks if you will, which are designed to provide a large amount of fire support over terrain impassible to a tank. In the Dannistrian military hierarchy, the AC mech supports the tank in the way a tank supports infantry. It’s a simple logical step. The red line is supposed to represent a drop of blood and it is added when the pilot or Raven has completed his first real combat sortie. I believe the order is a second red line is added under the beak if you survive another nine sorties. Then a third line if you go through the next twenty. And finally a red line under the head if you survive a hundred.”
Kah’lad rolled back down his sleeve and took a sip from his drink.
“Apologies if that was a bit much. Just stop me at anytime if you feel I’m overloading you. Anyway, I believe Nah’diir has a tatoo to signify his status.”
“The so-called ‘winged eye of protection’,” Nah’diir stated, “It’s a bit of a wierd one, actually.”
“Oh…” muttered Hiro at nobody in particular, feeling slightly amused and slightly frustrated.
Hiro shifted in his seat and sat staring at his feet until his phone’s ringtone suddenly brought him back to the room. In no particular rush, he pulled out his phone and looked lazily at the screen. Shigeru. Hiro tucked the still ringing phone back into his pocket. I’ll ring him back in a while.
«Hey, László its just me the one who has the sensation this was just a trap set down by our combatant friends to tell us about their military achievements?» chuckled the Rezielan putting down the now empty cup of tea.
The three Dannistrian also chuckled.
“Now I shall demonstrate how we Dannistrians kill people with the sheer weight of our medals,” Kah’lad jokingly suggested.
“No seriously, we don’t do that. Although I know of someone who might try…I’d avoid her at all costs,” he said with a wink.