Chapter 6: One who defects

The secret police or any government agency of similar nature were prohibited in the Legitimate confederation due to Michael McGuiness’ beliefs that such institutions would be interfering and infringing on the rights of the citizens, as such the government of the nation was left to use the military and some of its officials to carry out what the secret police would had done otherwise. The von Ellwangen case was just the newest case of the government using the military in this capacity although it could also be considered the least democratic and perhaps the most controversial of them all, because he had been tasked with the job of looking into von Ellwangen the Director of Joint Operations David Hopson as the year was now nearing its end decided to order Admirals Hyde and Odenwitz to trace new emergency escape plans as the newest ones had been written in the year 98 when then chairman Andreas Pereira saw the country had no organized plans in the case of large scale catastrophe. “First he tells me to be some sort of philosopher about the situation with von Ellwangen and now he wants us to trace some plans, isn’t that a lot of homework for an Admiral?” said Admiral Hyde towards her ward and husband, how they organized the plan at the time has never been officially disclosed as after a while it became more of a project by Ensign Nero, since he did most of it by himself, furthermore at that time they were only a month away from the beginning of a new battle.

A few weeks had passed since Admirals Hyde and Odenwitz were being entertained by the work put on them by Admiral Hopson, on the side of the Revolutionaries the preparations for Siegfried Stein’s and Connor Konev’s “expedition” into legitimate territory were all but complete, all that was left was for the October to arrive as that month began would be the time they would launch the fleet of over 70,000 ships. Thankfully, for those desperate at a chance for promotion as the month of September was reaching its tail end, but at that time a problem arose in Siegfried Stein as he had to inform his sister about the upcoming battle. He did not know how to inform her, as in the last few months they had been together, the siblings realised how apart they had grown as many of their views were radically different, and their personalities were the same and yet they felt like completely different to what they remembered.

Siegfried Stein’s breathing became heavier as he opened the door of the residence he had been staying at with his sister for the past few months, his soft, and porcelain like hands began perspire the closer he got to his sister. How would he tell her? Will she still silently disagree? Or will she finally actively go against him? He had never told his sister about what his intentions were, but Tyler Carey had later stated that it was not exactly hard to pinpoint Stein’s ambitions, furthermore she was his sister someone who knew him better than anyone else even with the distance that had grown between them, the understanding his sister had towards him was greater than the one he had of his sister. Siegfried eventually made his way to the dimly lit living room his sister was in, and after greeting said that he had something he desired to tell her about.

Sabina’s stare was completely on her brother, who could not keep his gaze at her sister’s eyes as it felt like his cold icebergs began to melt just by looking. He parted his lips and tried to explain the situation, but he just began stuttering in a nonsensical way. He had not thought about what to say, his usual upright posture became crooked as his shoulders and back dropped. He bit his nail for a short moment before trying to speak again, but it was no better than his first attempt. Sabina was at a loss for words, seeing her brother trying so hard to tell something, she began to think what could be giving him such trouble. She then quickly began to put the puzzle pieces together, it had something Siegfried believed would displease her, and just by knowing that she could know what Sieg was going to say. After all even if their interactions had become shallow and without substance, she still knew her brother would not want to make her displeased. Siegfried tried to tell her for a third time, but the results were no better than the last time, and like that Sabina decided to ask her brother if he was going in a military expedition, a question that upon hearing made Sieg look directly at his sister’s eyes and his posture return to normal as he composed himself to answer.
Siegfried’s answer was simple silent nod that confirmed his sister’s hypothesis about the situation. Siegfried attentively looked at his sister almost waiting a talk about peace and war’s troubles, but he was instead met with a faint smile followed by her wises for a successful operation, after hearing that Siegfried’s gaze clouded and his mind became blank for a short moment. He asked his sister if something was wrong, after all she was perhaps the most anti-war person he had ever known, she was also a person who wouldn’t just give up on her ideals and dreams for someone else, even if she had stopped actively pursuing support of the people to stop the war, she was still holding on to those pacifist ideals and was hoping that her brother could be the one to stop such meaningless fighting even if she did not completely agree with his methods.

Siegfried Stein was a man with a high intellect when it came to war, that was obvious after all he had become a Fleet Admiral at the age of 23, but when it came to social interaction he was merely below average in most cases, so with a slight inability to take a hint Siegfried pressured his sister more by asking her if she really was all right with everything going on. Sabina and Siegfried continued in a constant state of pressuring and denial, reminiscent of the days when they were children, days long gone yet at the same time extremely close. In the end his sister seeing no end to the constant argument cracked and finally spoke her true feelings about the expedition. This feelings were that she was extremely against such an attack as it will be nothing more than a waste of lives and resources, not only was the military going to battle in the Atarah Starzone but it was also going to be wasting a lot of money and natural resources that could be used for new technological advancements not related to war, or they could try and fix the neglected social inequality in the nation. This last point was something that Siegfried agreed on, since his goal was to become the ruler of the nation and at the very least make social inequality be less drastic than before, although he had in many times pondered if that was truly possible seeing how that was the goal of the Revolutionary Confederation, and how it still has social inequality even if the people were quite equal at its start not too many years before.

Siegfried rebutted his sister’s statement by claiming that such an expedition would help in the long run in the search for galactic peace, and that war brings a light many more technological advancements. He ended his rebuttal in a composed manner although his sister would note at a later date that his body language showed he was not quite as calm as he appeared by saying “If this expedition succeeds then I will be able to become closer to my goal and bring peace to this galaxy”. Sabina gave another faint smile at her brother following those words, she knew was her brothers’ ambitions were and she also knew that he was more than capable of achieving them and doing well, yet still she said “Sieg, you are a Fleet Admiral at 23. You have climbed up the ladder in a manner no other person has done before, you will surely be able to hold the stars in your hands, but what will you do then? Once you are done, will you be satisfied?” once Sabina finished talking Siegfried’s gaze dropped and his composed expression once again became changed to show slight nervousness in him. Siegfried Stein had never once actually thought about that, his plan was to overthrow the government by using its own overreliance and trust in the military to gain authority and notoriety on the government and so that people may begin to have faith and trust on him as the greatest soldier the country had and as a great leader, so that when he used his power to claim himself an emperor the population would look at it as a change for the better and not as a violent uprising. Sabina’s gaze dropped as well after seeing how her brother could not answer her questions, she was not nervous however instead she felt as if her brother should put more thought into his goals, by seeing him there like that she began to think however that perhaps her brother had looked so far into the future he had forgotten about the present and about himself in a way. His mind one step ahead of were his body was, and the fact he never thought about how he would be after achieving his goals could be a sign of this being true. The 30 year old woman called for her brother’s attention once again, their eyes clashed like the waves in the sea as she finally managed to say something she had been planning for a long time, but never had the courage to tell her brother about, yet having seen him in the position he was in, she relayed unto him her intentions that caused Siegfried’s heart to skip and beat and made him almost lose his balance. Those words were “I am going to defect to the Legitimate Confederation”.
II

The preparations for an evacuation route in the case of catastrophe on the side of the legitimate confederation had slowly gone from a task handled by three people into one handled only by one. That one person being Ensign Nero Quay who had taken upon the task by himself, since the route was going to mostly be made by him the Admirals Hyde and Odenwitz told the Codirector of Joint Operations and Chief of Staff Admiral Hopson to give all credit for the operation to the young Ensign who had fallen unto the custody of Admiral Hyde just 4 years prior due the nation’s policies on which soldiers may have to take in a war orphan. Hopson agreed to that although it is highly likely he didn’t really fully understand what the Admirals were asking due to his lack of sleep at the Secretary of Defence’s request.

Since they had no work to do at the time, and the government was still on a stalemate when it came to launching an attack. Karl Odenwitz had decided to take his wife out for a casual get away, a chance to try and forget about the war they were in and leave Nero the space to finish the work he had gotten so caught up on. The day they spent was for the most part nothing out of the ordinary that was until its end at a restaurant to which the two had usually gone when Hyde was still in the military academy. Their conversation on that evening started out as a continuation of the day, how the day itself was, and even stuff about their parents, which led to Odenwitz mentioning he hadn’t seen them for quite some time. Although the two had known each other for a long time, and were in a relationship the conversation still managed to shift unto their current situation to the slight discontent of Odenwitz. As the conversation got deeper and deeper into what was happening they talked about the situation with von Ellwangen and eventually about whether or not the military was hurting the nation’s economy.




Karl Odenwitz beliefs on that matter were that the country at the time was facing a major crisis against the revolutionary confederation, and that they needed to reclaim the nation’s territory as soon as possible so they may obtain the large amount of high quality resources the revolutionaries had. On the other hand Skye Hyde’s beliefs were that using such a large amount of money on the military was not the right choice and while the army is in fact a necessary evil in many cases, the war they were currently fighting was quite meaningless as it could had easily been avoided if the politicians hadn’t begun to act for their own self gain, if the confederation hadn’t lost the sights of what it originally was. A conglomerate of smaller autonomous government who responded to the larger High Council at times, atlough that was something that only happened for the first ten years of the Nation. In the end she finished her thoughts by saying “The nation that neglects social inequality mischievously increases military budget and then uses its power to suppress its citizens in the pretence of outside invasion may very well be on the road to extinction” this was an answer to many things including the military’s overspending, how the government took away von Ellwangen’s rights simply for disagreeing with the government, and also the large discrepancies between people in social and economical terms that had begun to arise on both confederations.

In the end their supposed day off of the war was consumed by it, granted it could have been even more encroached on it if Karl had gone through with his plan of going to a museum as Hyde was in someone fond with history. The days they spent together simply taking for granted the other will be there the next day, that could be something every human is guilty of. Taking for granted, thinking that the tomorrow will stay the same as the today and that their loved one will always be there and therefore they’d have all the reasons to live life slowly, not go out as much, but before the two Admirals could know it a day would come were one of them would leave and then the other would leaving Nero alone to carry on his life how he desired. Perhaps had they known what awaited them they would actively spend their time as one more, but as it would later be noted by Hyde “If humans could know what their future was, there would be no point in studying the past or living the present. It might all be meaningless.

III

Defection was uncommon in the confederation; there had been very few documented cases of it. The reason for this was mostly due to there being only one corridor of passage between the two and that on the two ends of the corridor there were unmanned starzones, the Atarah starzone in the legitimate side and the Barnabaras starzozone on the revolutionary side. The words of defection that had been relayed by sisters left Siegfried in a blank state, his mind that had been thinking of many things like the many tactics they could employ on the battlefield was at a loss. Siegfried could not process such words; therefore he had gone on to sleep without directing comprehensible sentences towards his sister. Once he had entered a slumber his mind had decided to remind him of something, it was all a dream but later on he would recall how it had reminded him of what his true motivations were. Siegfried’s reasoning for wanting to overthrow the government was not simple desire or greed. He also did not become a soldier just to avenge his father as his sister had thought at first when her brother had first entered the military academy. His ambitions and vision, his desire, his passion for righting the wrongdoings of what he saw as a corrupt and useless government began to burn on a night almost 13 years prior following an strategic victory over the legitimate confederation the revolutionary leader Dr. Ivan Bromka held an special ceremony for the fallen soldiers who had in his words “Died to protect our freedom and rights” the ceremony was nothing special, it was just blatant propaganda for the government to continue sending men to die, however few cared to disagree with the government or just be negative about it. Sabina Stein was at that time just garneing some sentiments against the war, but that could have easily been attributed to the denial of her father’s death.




The event that led to the two siblings gaining feelings against the government and desiring for some change occurred as they were making their war towards their home, as the night sky became illuminated by golden aura emanating from their head the two caught the glimpse of a young upstart politician heavily under the influence of alcohol speaking with a fine young woman. The politician had the young women grabbed by her hand as she tried her best to force herself out of his grasp, Siegfried and Sabina were as frozen as their eyes unmoving, they didn’t fight or flee they simply stood there at a reasonable distance from the incident perhaps hoping someone else would show and stop it, but not a single soul arrived whether that was due to the time is unknown although Sabina would later note that in their country the most appreciated the freedom is “The freedom to not get involved” as the incident began to escalate with the young politician pushing the woman unto a wall grabbing her free hand to stop her attempts at escaping his grasp he began to spoke, telling her how he was due to become a great politician and how he would soon attain a high position in the government that she should go with him and have an easy life, he continued rambling about how she would be an idiot for rejecting him as he would one day surely be in a powerful position within the government. The woman tried to stop what was happening by telling he that she could not do such a thing so close after her husband’s demise, the politician responded by saying that her prior husband was nothing more than a pawn that he and other politcians could just send to die and no one would bat an eye as it is for the name of justice and freedom “even though you could easily just sign peace” interjected the woman to the man’s discontent. He then pulled the woman and began to force her to come with him to what Siegfried finally responded by turning to his sister and asking her what they should, if they should do something, telling her that they needed to help the woman. Sabina’s response was to pull on her little brother and get away, her young brother tried to fight back as he did not want to leave the woman along. He pleaded to go help her, he said that the woman looked uncomfortable around the man, but his sister did not allow for any intervention, eventually Siegfried stopped fighting as he saw the woman finally entering the man’s car and leaving. Sabina looked at her little brother who seemed to be crying at being unable to help the woman, so Sabina tried to comfort him by saying “Sieg, at times in our home there things that are not good and we might now that, but we cant do anything about it as the people doing might be someone that cannot be punished” Siegfried then said that her words did not sound right to what Sabina said that in effect they were no right, but that was the way things went in their country. On their way home they bought had the same thought, but with two different conclusions, they both desired to end such injustices from happening. They did not desire for anyone to feel the pain that woman had seemed to be suffering that is why Sabina thought to herself that she needed to do something to stop the politcians’ ego, her conclusion was that if peace could be achieved then perhaps the Legitimate Confederation’s High Council will take power bringing a less corrupt government that wouldn’t take any advantage of the citizens while Siegfried looking up at the stars thought to himself that the only way to stop such an oppression of rights was to have power, the power to keep egos in line, to keep politicians from harming any other citizen. In their war based society the fastest way to gain power was the military and to stop the oppression completely he needed more than the power of a high ranking military man, he needed to hold absolute power so that he could build a new fair and just society.

Siegfried Stein was gazing up at the stars alone at his home reminiscing of that night long ago, “That night I was just a powerless child, but now thing are different. I am a Fleet Admiral and once Konev’s invasion fails I will finally hold supreme control on the military”. Those were the thoughts of the young marshal on the night following her sister’s comments. She had yet to return to her home since that happened and therefore Siegfried had assumed that she was getting ready for defecting, probably using the aftermath of the battle to come in order to go past any border patrols. “We will see each other again soon” were the last words Siegfried spoke on that night. The following day Siegfried Stein would depart from the Revolutionary capital alongside Connor Konev. His fleet consisted of 30,000 ships which on itself included the Carey and Landon fleets furthermore it had the fighter squadrons of Commanders Clint Ambrose and Ricardo Texeira and with Chief of Staff Joahness Landlier the fleet was seen by the population as the defining fleet of the operation even if Konev’s fleet had 45,000 ships. In the end however that was not what mattered, as both fleets will need to collaborate to reach their strategic goal of seizing the starzone where they’d wage battle and obtain a bridgehead for following operations, and like that the Revolutionary expedition force set sail with a combine force of 75,000 ships.

Author's Note

As this still draft all feedback is welcome.