Chapter 9 "New Beginning

I

 

December 1^st, 178. Skye Hyde’s flagship had arrived to the capital just a few days after the fleet had. Upon disembarking from the shuttle that took them into the planet Admiral Odenwitz was met journalists snapping pictures at his face, alongside the Secretary of Defence standing next to Fleet Admiral Yin who appeared indifferent to the situation not even speaking to the Secretary at all. Once Skye, Karl and Nero had reached the end of their shuttle’s ramp Joao Pereira grabbed Admiral Odenwitz congratulating him and allowing the cameras to catch a glimpse off of a handshake between the two. Karl was confused, and so were Skye and Nero who had been left seeing the Admiral’s back without even a word being said to them. Once Pereira had left the scene the Fleet Admiral apologized for the occurrence and handed over a letter to Skye. He mentioned that the letter was for husband, but he did not trust him not to open it before arriving to their residence. Skye nodded looking at the end before giving it to Nero who put it away without being asked to. Fleet Admiral Yin looked at Skye and told her to not get mad at Odenwitz once they read the letter. At that moment they did not know what could be, but they did however know the Karl would have to present himself early in the morning for a meeting with the Fleet Admiral and the Secretary of Defense as they had been told via a video communication by the Admiral Hopson.

 

Once they had arrived at their residence the young Nero curious at what the letter could hold inside of it, impatiently ripped it apart to read the information that came in it even if it would be against their protocol. As he read the details of the letter his eyes widened and his mouth opened in a joyous form prompting Skye to question him about the letter’s information. Nero in a loud voice almost reminiscent of when he was a younger lad exclaimed towards Karl “Admiral, you´ve been promoted!”

 

 

The two admirals looked at each other for a small moment before Karl reached out for the letter and read it aloud “Due to your services in stopping the rebel’s advancement, we have promoted you to Fleet Admiral” Karl smiled briefly, his efforts for the last years had reached their end as he became the youngest Fleet Admiral in the Legitimate´s Confederation history. Nero congratulated the Admiral for his promotion, but Skye remained silent in a state of confusion as to what to say next. Should she congratulate him even though it goes against some of her beliefs? Should she act negatively for getting promoted due to making an unnecessary move but undermining his efforts for the last decade? Once Karl had turned around to see her with a smile on his face she had to make a decision. She quickly changed her mental state from complete and utter confusion into a more balanced state in which to the best of her ability she congratulated her husband “You have done well to get up to this point, just don’t get carried away with the power and...” she was shut down by her husband putting his finger on her lips and stating “I know.. I know... finish this war as quick and as bloodless as possible.” Skye nodded, although Nero would later note that it seemed as if she was holding back something else, perhaps if she had voiced her opinion at the time the events that would be yet to happen would had never occurred.

 

Once the next day came Karl and Skye arrived at the military headquarters first thing in the morning, while Skye would go on to work on minor inconveniences that her chief of staff had in her fleet’s organization, Karl would go to meet with the Secretary of Defense Pereira, Admiral Hopson and Fleet Admiral Trung Yin. As soon as he stepped foot on the room in which he was to be given his new insignia as a Fleet Admiral, Karl remained still for a moment as Joao Pereira quite uncharacteristically welcomed him before asking him to come closer, Yin and Hopson were standing next to the Secretary whose gaze never turned from the Fleet Admiral to be as he began a speech on him, “Admiral Odenwitz you have done a great service to this country by fighting to reclaim what is rightfully our land, you have been a shining star during this time of dark and with this promotion I hope you will continue serving this nation and of course acknowledge the fact that you will now be unable to run for any political position.” Yin offered Karl his badge, which he humbly accepted by saying that he would do his best to protect the nation. “So you promoted me because you do not want me to come after your jobs?” is what the Fleet Admiral thought as once he had been officially promoted the secretary left. Fleet Admiral Yin sighed and proceeded to congratulate Odenwitz on his promotion, he then asked Hopson to help Karl out in getting filled in on his new role. “That would be great, I had actually hoped to speak with Admiral Hopson.” Yin shook his head and told Karl that there was no need for him to be so formal, after all they now were equals.

 

Karl was shown towards his new office as a Fleet Admiral and was told his duties by Hopson, then Hopson asked him for the reason that he wanted to speak with him. Karl seated on the top of his deck and scratched his head through his beret in a manner similar to that of his wife. Karl then took out some documents out of his military jacket, “You accidentally gave me documents while Nero was doing that evacuation plan. They are not related to the data we need so I am giving them back.” Hopson stepped back for a second before he thanked the Fleet Admiral for giving the documents back, he then saluted him and left the office. Karl sighed and pulled out of his jacket yet another set of documents, these were the same as the ones he had just returned, as he had copied them in the case anything happened. “Maybe I should have told him about this…” Karl shook his head and made his way towards the shredder in his office. Karl then looked out the large window that his office had, and saw the private jet of the secretary of defense as he made his way towards Vanuchi the city home of the entertainment industry of the Confederation for a supposed meeting of the High Council.

 

Karl looked at the documents, the original ones all had a classified stamp and were prohibited to be seen even for Fleet Admirals, only those that had been personally authorized may legally see such documents. Karl’s hand shook softly as he began to think on what to do. Should he open them and see what’s inside? Or should he not and continue leaving out his dream of helping others as a soldier? Could this documents hold an important military advantage? Could they be used to end the war? Many thoughts came to his head, he tried to resist temptation and tried to shred them but in the end Karl gave into temptation and decided to see were the whims of fate may lead him.

 

Karl locked his office’s door and sat down on his desk in the proper manner this time around. He took a deep breath and opened the folder that held the documents, he looked through a couple of them thinking he would find something important, but that did not seem like it would happen. What was written in the papers appeared to me nothing but the expenses record of the government. Things such as how much money had been uses in the construction of military ships, new public buildings, travelling expenses for government officials. The record of it all was in the document. “Seems like it was nothing.” was what the Fleet Admiral thought as he leaned back on his chair using his beret as a fan. He closes his eyes for a moment and sighed he had thought of leaving the documents be, but once he glanced at them again he saw something quite strange.

 

The paper he grabbed had a detailed view of the amount of money that the government was paying to people who had retired. At first it all looked too normal until Karl looked at the monstrous amounts of money that was seemingly being give. Gordon Honson was reportedly gaining over 50,000 credits on retirement money, more than twice the average salary on the Confederation, Aegidius van Braam 75,000 credits, Emel Yilmas 60,000 credits, all of this appeared several times in the following documents, as seemingly the money was given more times than the ones it had been intended to by the government. He thought it had to do with these people being former government officials and getting extra perks for their retirement therefore he was ready to call it a day and get back with Skye to go home. One name however caught his eye, the amount of money being given was that 125,000 credits more than anyone else on the documents he had access to. The name that was written however opened Karl’s eyes in shock as he saw the name of Frances Hyde, it was the name of Skye’s mother but she had passed away just before she the military academy. What was the reason for being here?

 

Karl remained still in thought for a moment as he began to think for possible explanations for what why Skye’s mother would be receiving money from the government. “Could she still be alive? No that is unlikely. Could there had been a mistake? The possibilities of that seem better, but I still cannot see it.” Karl began to look into the other people on the document and he found that everyone in it had already passed away, at that point the chance of an error was unlikely. How could so many people be receiving a pension after death? Had Skye been there she surely would had said that it had something to do with an incompetent official doing something wrong, and Karl did in fact consider this possibility however it also seemed unlikely to him, or maybe he was just denying the truth? He had lived his entire life with the dream of being a soldier, of protecting the values of freedom that his nation always publicized, and even if he sometimes had distrust in those at the helm he always believed that they would do what was best for the people.

 

Had he been blinded by his own love for his country? Was he just escaping the reality of the situation? Karl could not stop thinking about what was happening, about why he had seen this document, perhaps had he not seen it then he would had never had the thoughts that started arriving on his head. Was this not an act worse than just taking bribes and ignoring the poor? They were taking extra tax money form themselves with the cover of given money to the people of their nation who had already completed their life’s work. He saw it as a despicable act for them to do something like that, and he could not help but think on what to do. His cause for fighting had been to protect his nation had been his belief that the current administration was mostly right, but did this not confirm they were just as corrupt as any other? How different really were from the so called “Revolutionary” Confederation if they could deny the poor health care, but line their own pockets with money? Hearing a knock on his door he put the documents on a drawer in his desk and decided that he would give what he had seen some thought and research after all he could had just been overreacting.

 

 

He unlocked the door to his office allowing Skye to enter it seemingly tired from being with her Chief of Staff all day she sat down on one of the couches that his office had “I’m beat, Admiral Kotobuki did not let me leave until everything had been organized perfectly.” “Must be signs that you’re getting old.” was the reply that Karl gave. “Is not like I wanted to turn 30 besides you are way older than me.” was how Skye reciprocated towards Karl’s remark. “That is no way to talk to a superior Ma’am.” Skye then said “All right then Fleet Admiral, I hope I have not interrupted anything Fleet Admiral.” Karl laughed slightly “I like that call me Fleet Admiral more often please.” Skye pouted at his words and stood up looking out the large window she scratched her head through her beret and mentioned how despite the war life just went on like nothing was going on that for someone like Nero had she not made him her aide maybe he would have lived on life no war had been happening.

 

Karl shook his head and grabbed his wife by the waist looking out the window, Skye looked into his eyes perhaps desiring to apologize for appearing to be against Karl being promoted due to his worthless destruction of a defeated fleet, but her words could not come out of her mouth as Karl kissed her before she could say anything. “You know my office has it so that no one can enter when the lock is on.” “Is that not how locks work?” was how Skye responded. Karl laughed nervously for a moment realizing just how incoherent his comment really was, Skye sighed and kissed Karl as well. The twin stars of the Legitimate Confederation embraced each other as the sun set down and the night began to take precedence, Nero would note at a later their star together at the time shone brighter than any other and even if they sometimes made mistakes or said things uncharacteristical for regular couples if one were to spend enough time with them then they could say they did truly love each other.  In the end though should personal attachments be stronger than the individual rights of the people? One day such a question would be posed to them, but at the time neither of them knew just how their story would play out.

 

 

 

II

 

Siegfried Stein arrived to the Revolutionary capital Minerva announcing to the government that their mission had been a failure. His Chief of Staff attributed the defeat to Conner Konev´s failure to restraint himself, the officials of the government having read the report decided against any reprehension towards Fleet Admiral  Stein for the failure putting the blame on the Revolutionary Secretary of Defence removing him from his post leaving Siegfried Stein as the sole supreme authority over military matters. The Revolutionary leader Dr. Bromka saw having only one person in charge of such matters as a potential hazard to the country´s future and decided to hold a meeting alongside the different secretaries and ministers as well as Siegfried Stein to decide about what they would do. The minsters and secretaries all decided on the proposal that Dr. Bromka should have joint authority over the matter, their reasons have been cited as hope to end their current system of government as many government officials began to complain about the high amount of paperwork that had started to pile up.

 

Dr. Bromka rejected the idea while there have been many supposed quotes he gave to explain his decision during the meeting the one most historians agree upon as what was said was “That won´t do I’m afraid. It would go against my ideas for me to intervene in such an important matter.” up to that point Siegfried had remained silent through the entire meeting, he had begun to shake his leg and his eyes had started to wander around due to the monotony of the proposals, with a long sigh Siegfried finally spoke his mind. “I believe there is no reason to put someone else in charge. The dynamic of having several people in charge of military matters has only brought us three major victories, in addition to that we have lost more soldiers and ships than the Le- than the traitors to our founding father´s ideals. I propose that I keep supreme authority over military action until the next election in two years time.”  Dr. Bromka was entirely sure about the proposal however he decided to accept it as the others had began to show unrest at the long time they had spent at the room and dismissed everyone.

“Ah Admiral Stein, there is something I forgot to address with you. Would you please stay here for a few more moments?” asked Bromka towards the young Admiral who nodded and remained in the meeting area without taking a seat even though he had silently been offered to take one. The revolutionary doctor sighed and asked Stein about his sister, Stein’s eyes widened and he stuttered a few seconds before asking the reasoning behind this question. The doctor leaned putting his elbow on the table connecting his hands “Not reason at all, it is just that I had heard she has not been seen in a while. She has not gone back to protesting now has she?” Siegfried shook his head to deny such allegations but then the revolutionary leader added that he had heard that a shuttle had been allowed to go past their fleet from the revolutionary space unto the enemy territory. Siegfried once again denied this claiming it had been nothing more than a mere space rock, “Very well if you say so I will trust in you Admiral, but if I find out that you have lied to me and your sister has gone back to her old ways or even left. You will be demoted.” Siegfried saluted doctor and finally left the building.

 

As he was walking down of the stairs to reach his limousine Stein was called out by a familiar voice that being Admiral Carey who had been called in to confirm the report given by the fleet. “You looks frustrated” mentioned Carey, Siegfried let out a faint laugh “Do I now? Well can you blame when the incompetent people waste your time to decide nothing?” Carey shook his head at the reply of his commander and mentioned how in every place bureaucracy is the same. Siegfried looked away from Carey for a slight moment before sighing and explaining “Bureaucracy is not always the same, it can in fact be an effective form of government however eventually due to our nature it becomes slow and corrupt and just like any other type of government. There is no perfect nation and thus no government lasts forever.”

 

 

 

 

Carey opened his mouth for a moment as he looked around the place, “It is all right there is no one here.” affirmed Stein keeping eyes focused on his subordinate. “Still if anyone had heard that it would be bad for us.” Siegfried Stein fixed one of the bang’s of his hair that had started to obstruct his vision and claimed that is anyone heard him then they could come and get him, Carey let out a light “Right, considering how fast the people have begun to lose faith in the government it would not be a problem if they heard, Also your hair is too long it sets a bad example for soldiers.” Stein looked up as if trying to see his hair until realising that he could not really do that, he shrugged it off and bid Tyler farewell as he went towards his transport and to his residence.

 

III

 

It had only been a few days since the fleets that had been involved in the battle at the corridor, it should have been for the commanders involved a period of rest and recovery from the brutal battle that had transpired however history does not slow its pace for the commodity of mankind and it showed its ruthlessness once again on December 9^th. This day would be the day that now many look upon as the start of the war’s endgame and it all began with the entering of a ship seeking refuge in the Legitimate capital. At the time that the occupant of the ship was being questioned outside of what the policy in refuges of both Confederations was Admiral Hyde and Odenwitz were letting their own worldly desired takeover their lives. “Admiral if you don´t wake up soon the enemy will close in while you are sleeping.” said Nero towards Skye Hyde as she laid in her bed the only one still sleeping “The enemy is sleeping and even if they were closing in I could get three days of sleep before any problem arises.” said Hyde as a way to dodge getting out of bed. “Skye we all are tired, but if an Admiral sleeps too much it will set a bad example on the soldiers.” “There are no soldiers here.” refuted Hyde to Karl’s words. Karl shook his head and looked at Nero signalling for him to get out. It is unknown what sort of witchery he must have used as only a few minutes later Skye got out of the room with him.

 

Nero smiled at the two before starting to serve breakfast... “It’s already 1200... well I guess brunch is not that bad.” Nero began to serve brunch. “It’s still so early only incompetent politicans like ours should be getting up at this time.” exclaimed Skye “Yeah.” responded Karl “Hm? Is there something bothering you? Normally you would respond with something about a soldier’s duty to protect the people and the government but you didn’t this time.” asked Skye “It’s nothing. I have just been thinking a lot about the state of our government they claim freedom and democracy. Fairness and righteousness, but is that really what they are giving? My only reason for protecting them is because their supposed fairness protects the people but what if they do not protect them?” Skye did no respond instead changing the subject matter perhaps fearing the possibility of changing the ways things had been going. In his head however there is no doubt that a conversation continued in Karl’s mind “If they really see themselves as above the people you want to protect... what will you do then? Karl,”

 

“Admiral there is a call from HQ for you.” exclaimed young Nero once their “brunch” had concluded making Skye sigh as she had been hoping for a long break following the battle, both Skye and Karl expected something among the lines of being told to prepare for another battle but of less scale than the previous instead of that the Chief of Staff told them that a refugee had come in from the Revolutionary Confederation. “A refugee? That is not part of the military’s work at this stage.” Admiral Hopson nodded at Karl’s remark and told them that this refugee had actually especially asked to meet with Skye. He then proceeded to tell them that he could not reveal the identity of the person in question as he claimed her to be a relatively important person so the government was still considering what to do about her. “Well they set the law that guaranteed anyone seeking refuge from the Revolutionary’s oppression to be taken in. They cannot really do anything other than accept her in.” proclaimed the Fleet Admiral with his arms cross. Hopson shook his head and told them that in any case they should at least come and see her as she did personally ask for them. They both nodded and accepted to go and meet with this refugee.

 

 

The ride towards the HQ was a rather common one Skye complained about being forced to go work when she had practically just returned from the battle followed by Nero remarking how she must be important to be called over for this to what Skye said that maybe the refugee was just someone very important and therefore they could not reject a request from them. Karl then mentioned however that it were strange for something like this to happen he talked about the possibility of it being a politician from the other side and said that maybe they wanted to make allies with them due to their rising reputation so that they could eventually get into the government in there as well adding that maybe they would do a better job than their current one. “The Marshal saying anti-government remarks? Has the Admiral finally gotten through with you.” Karl nodded in denial towards Nero’s comment and turned to Skye who decided to remain silent.

 

Upon reaching the headquarters the trio noticed that the building had more guards around it than usual however they did not appeared bothered by it and stepped out of their vehicle when they were greeted by a Petty Officer and an Ensign that informed them they would have to be escorted to the room in which they will be meeting with their solicitor and then added that Nero would have to wait in a separate room while the meeting is running. “You are talking as if you do not know what is happening.” remarked Skye “I do not.” replied the young Ensign Skye nodded and went along with what was happening. She questioned the reason for the secrecy, but decided against asking further questions specially when she considered their escorts did not know much of the situation. Once they entered the building the amount of people was lower than it regulalry was it did however spark an interest in the mind of the two Admirals as Karl commented whispering to his wife “There are a lot of scavengers here, huh?” to what she answered “There usually are not this many politicians in here, whoever asked to meet with us is certainly extremely important.” Karl silently agreed.

 

 

 

When they reached their destination Karl offered to use his position to allow Nero’s entrance however the young man rejected the offer claiming he did not want to be a nuisance. Skye then asked him to follow the Petty Officer that had brought them towards another location. The two admirals had to wait until Nero was out of sight in order to enter the room they had been lead to, until finally Karl opened the room’s door with his military identification. They had expected the room to be dark with bad lightning, a typical interrogation room, but it was instead filled with a glamorous lustre coming from bright gold hair that brimmed on the fine  porcelain like skin of a woman that was sitting on a small table with a single officer escorting her. She slowly slipped from her teacup before hearing the closing of the door and opening her warm yet cold blue eyes, leaving Skye and Karl at a loss of words, “I suppose you two are Admiral Skye Hyde and Fleet Admiral Karl Odenwitz? Greetings, I am the refugee that asked to meet you. My name is Sabina Stein.”

 

The name rung a bell on the two admiral heads her last name was the same as the Fleet Admiral of the Revolutionary fleet, so could it be that she was in fact related to this man. That could explain the reason behind such security after all if something like this leaked it could be both beneficial and destructive to the government as while the incident could be played out to be a showing of how even the relatives of a man as important as Siegfried desired to leave the Revolutionary Confederation the populace that had been losing trust in its leadership could see it as their government helping the rebels that were tainting their pure democratic nation causing unrest furthermore Siegfried Stein would be able to use this as a pre-tense to launch a full frontal attack towards the Legitimate territory that due to the FTL system used would spell the end of the war in a matter of months.

 

Their meeting was however rather ordinary as Karl asked simple questions such as “Why did you defect?” “How did you defect?” etc. His questions were answered simply as well as Sabina just explained she had grown impatient on the anti-democratic way her nation had been run.

 

Sabina added that she had come with the idea of a democratic nation, a paradise for those who preached the so called people power and the ideals of their founder. Sabina was however disappointed at what she had found, the politicians were as if not more corrupt than those in her nation due to the fact that while her leaders would usually make rash decisions to benefit their standing in the political world it was still never for their own personal benefit. They would instead try and make the best for the citizenship without actually listening to what the citizens needed, in the Legitimate Confederation instead decisions were overall better but the politicians would often embezzle funds and pass laws for their own benefit hoping to live on doing nothing for the rest of their lives.

 

Skye and Karl both agreed that what she said was the case in their nation citing the recent incident with Ermenrich von Ellwangen as a clear example of something that was made for gain both in a political level and in the personal level. Karl crossed his arms and leaned on the table to cut the talking and finally  “So then why did you want to walk with us?” Sabina looked at Skye perhaps as a reflex from how her life had gone beforehand. “I have a proposal, to help end this war.” Skye’s eyes widened at her words and as such she leaned in to be in a position closer to Sabina than her husband asking her to go on with her supposed proposal. Sabina smiled and drank out of her cup of tea to finally begin to talk...

 

“In a moment like this to dwell on small formalities is nothing but decremental, we have been at war with the scum who have gone against our founding father’s ideals  for 25 years now and if we halted operations until an election is sorted to continue military operations then who knows how much longer this war may go for. This is why I Fleet Admiral Siegfried Stein shall be solely responsible for the military actions only responding directly to our Revolutionary leader, I swear in front of all people present that I will not abuse the power I will be given and will look to promote someone to Fleet Admiral who can act as a second opinion as our system asks for all to make sure we keep our ideals and we can sustain our existence for as long as possible. Long live the revolution!” a grand round of applause came from the people of the Revolutionary Confederation watched Siegfried Stein’s speech on the reasons he would remain as the one person with the most power in the military, the applause cheers and overwhelming positive feeling felt as the television screens that showed his speech was not just for the reasons he proposed but because he had given the speech after many journalists trying gaining the same explanations from other members of the government. Citizens began calling Stein as the only honest person with power and his status had become higher than it had previously been.

 

Lieutenant Yi had been left speechless at the public reaction while walking through the capital’s square. He had expected for there to be an outcry as a claim of it being the start of a coup based on what he had learnt in history classes, as he was lost in thought looking at the large screen that had been turned off for maintenance following the announcement Yi felt a soft pat in the back “That Admiral of us is sure a lucky one, he not only has looks only second to me but he can say whatever he want and be cheered for it.” the voice came from Yi’s fighter mentor Ricardo Texeira who surprised with Yi with his rather informal greeting. Slightly shaken up he mustered to spew out “Ah you think so?” Texeria looked at him for a few seconds before letting out a light laugh “I did not think just approaching you from behind would make you like that well as apologies I will take you somewhere nice.”

 

Yi shook his head trying to refuse the invitation claiming he had to go back with his parents to what his mentor responded by wrapping his arm around Yi’s neck and forcing him to walk with him “Come on you’re a rising star in the military you don’t have to go back just yet.” Once a small struggle proved futile for the young Lieutenant he accepted his fate and walk along his commander to a bar that had recently opened. “This place opened up just a few days, I wanted to come for the opening but the launch screwed up my schedule. Well order anything you want my treat.” Yi tried asking him if it were really all right to drink anything while being under-age however the commander had already begun sparking the flames of a relation alongside three women.

 

Yi sighed and looked at drink menu however before deciding two glasses appeared before him being given by no other than the commander of the second fighter squadron in the Stein fleet that Alexander Ambrose “Don’t worry about him,  he might have invited you but he has already chosen his path.” said Ambrose turning towards Texeira before sitting down  offering Yi a non-alcoholic beverage. Yi drank it quickly and attempted to leave however Ambrose asked him to stay for just a few more minutes before leaving.  Yi reluctantly accepted looking at how the man who invited him was no long gone leaving behind no trace of his existence. Ambrose sipped from his drink and hunched closer to Yi and finally told him “Listen kid, you are a great talent and you have inmense potential but now you won’t be with us. The Admiral will certainly move you into harder and harder roles, you will have to adapt and more importantly be more than second to all of us. You must be more than me in fighter combat at least for you to not be remembered as a waste of potential. At any rate the only way to make sure of that is to not be influenced by the wrong people, all right? I don’t know if we will see each other again so cheers.” Ambrose downed his drink and then allowed Yi to leave with only his thoughts. “The wrong people? Would someone who hopes of seizing power be wrong?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IV

 

Skye and Karl having heard the idea that Sabina had talked between each other about the implications she was giving, it did not take long for the Fleet Admiral to question Sabina about her words “There is no qualm about your allegiance at the moment, after all you have criticized the revolutionary government many times in the past. Still if we go through with what you have said how would it really help us?” Sabina looked appalled at the question posed, she had proposed using her own knowledge of the revolutionary confederation so that they could formulate better strategies and tactics during combat. Sabina did not know how to explain it better than the way she had put and thus remained silent causing Karl to try and pressure her into talking more, but he was interrupted by Skye “If you help us, we would get to know how your brother that genius of war operates.”

 

Sabina nodded in accordance with Skye’s conclusion, Karl  in the end accepted her deal and made her part of his staff making Sabina an official citizen of the Legitimate Confederation, her defection was never announced to the public and remained a secret between the higher ranked military officials alongside the Confederation’s high council who despite voicing displeasure with her inclusion as an unofficial member of the military let it slide so long as Sabina accepted to properly accommodate to the difference in culture without letting anyone know where she had come from at first Sabina believed such restriction of concealing her place of birth to be anti-free speech however Skye would explain her that due to the war at hand there is a possibility she would not be well received if people knew where she came from without knowing her well at first. Her explanation calmed Sabina who thought that perhaps she had made the wrong choice by defecting at such an early stage of her defection.

 

 

 

 

Once the day was coming to a close after what seemed like a week’s worth of work being done in a flash Sabina came up to Skye and asked her if she could remain at her residence for the night since the long time taken to figure everything out left without the chance to book a hotel room and she would not be getting a place to stay until later on. Skye looked at her husband to make a decision he nodded his head passing the baton right back at Skye who now forced to make the decision by herself accepted to take her in for the night. Sabina smiled and thanked while bowing her head causing Skye to tell her she had no need for such formalities. Sabina nodded at the request to not be as formal and went alongside them for the night, talking with them about how her defection came to be and how the government actually works in the Revolutionary Confederation.

 

Dressed in her light night gown Sabina looking out to the night sky from the balcony when she heard a light knock on the door of the room she had been lent, in a gentle voice gave the person knocking the chance to come inside. Skye Hyde entered and seeing her apologised as she had come to ask if she had anything to wear at night, therefore she wanted to leave but Sabina told her she could stay and watch the stars with her. “It is quite incredible, just a few weeks ago I looked at the bright stars from so far away. They are dazzling here even more beautiful than they were over there, yet I am still blinded by his light.” said Sabina never distracting her gaze from the shining stars. Skye looked at them and asked if she was talking about her brother “I cannot see him nor hear him, but his lustre reaches all the way to this planet. He might hate me for defecting, but for him to succeed in his hopes I could not be there. I know however that he is most definitely looking at the stars with me at this moment, connecting our bond through the stars.”

 

Skye gazed the stars with her for a while, and in that time. “Sister, it is strange not seeing you anymore, however I know you did not do this without reason. Do not worry I will achieve what I desire and I will hold all the power I want. When that day comes I will finally get to see you once more, despite your opinions on war you never truly discouraged me from this. You were my greatest ally and friend even when you saw this as unnecessary slaughter.” Looking deep into the stars with his cold blue eyes Siegfried Stein said remembering his sister. “The shining stars of the Confederation, Skye Hyde and Karl Odenwitz. Will you be an ally or an obstacle? I will make this revolution mine, the galaxy shall be mine. Only then will we be able to prosper.” December 10^th Confederate Year 178 0123 hours, the blood shed by history increased by the day yet it showed no sign of stopping any time soon. Only time will tell however how the history of the galaxy will go, as the pages of this war’s history were coming to an end.