Only War Lasts Forever

 

 

 

 

 

 Chapter 2

 

 

There was an awkward silence in the room shortly after Andi finished explaining why had joined with the HDGA. It lasted for a while. Eventually, it got to be unbearable. But even after twenty minutes of silence had passed, no one dared to speak.

The tension in the room became too much and Jaan spoke up. “So you’re telling us it’s because you wanted to prove your worth? Since when has anyone ever doubted your worth, Andi?”

“Listen, Jaan, I’ve been babied since I was very small and you guys took me in. By you, the neighbors, friends, other family members, everyone. Everyone has babied me for as long as I can remember. And it’s been because I’ve been a sickly orphan most of my life. Quite frankly, I’m very tired of it. And I can’t prove myself to anyone by staying here. Most of the people in this area have heard by now of that accident. All I ever hear, even now twenty years later, is about how awful it was, and about how awful it is that I lost my parents, but that it’s a good thing that you two could take me in.” He gestured to his Aunt and Uncle.

“Andi,” Jaan’s Father said, “you don’t need to do this. Believe me, I understand what you mean when you say that everyone has been babying you. I myself wish I could have had the heart to discipline you more, but I didn’t want to be the bad guy in your life.”

“I appreciate the thought, Uncle, but I know you don’t really mean it. Believe me when I say that I cannot begin to describe how grateful I am to the both of you that you didn’t leave me on the street. But this is my choice. This is how I want to prove myself to you, to Jaan, to everyone. I want to show everyone I meet that even a boy who is frail and has been robbed of his parents can do something of note.”

Jaan leaned back in the chair he was sitting in. He thought quietly to himself. He remembered Corporal Greg’s words from when he spoke to him in Jeb’s bar. He thought about how, with Andi’s frailness, he might be a private until he either retired or died, since he might never be able to prove himself in combat one bit. And of course, with his frailty, the latter path might be very soon for him if he ever entered combat.

What if, Jaan thought, I could somehow help him? I don’t care how, I just don’t want him to get hurt. But, how? Is there nothing I can do? We could tie him up and restrain him until they leave… but who’s to say they won’t come looking for him? Plus, what if another military comes looking for recruits and Andi joins up with them? He might not feel compelled to say goodbye to us then. I suppose if it came to it, I could always…

Jaan stopped himself. His thinking was dangerous. He shouldn’t think things like that. But it is for Andi’s sake. Perhaps that isn’t such a bad thing? It wouldn’t have to permanent either. In fact, he could leave the moment he knew Andi was safe.

Chuckling quietly to himself, Jaan shook his head. He didn’t need to think about it anymore. No matter how adamant he was, his brain might continue to rationalize the idea until it seemed logical to do it forever.

Jaan leaned forward, and interrupted his Father and Andi arguing.

“Listen.” Jaan took a deep breath and made sure he knew what he was saying. “I’ve made a decision. I have a feeling that it will upset everyone in this room, but here goes: I’m enlisting as well.”

Andi’s face appeared to be a mixture of excitement and disdain. Jaan’s Mother began crying loudly, louder than she had before, and his Father stood up, fists clenched and started yelling.

“Jaan! What the hell?!”

“Dad, listen to me, I know it sounds bad, but let me…”

“Oh yes, you’ll explain alright. Then I’ll tie you up and throw you in the basement.”

“Uncle,” Andi slightly raised his hand and waved it, trying to calm his enraged uncle down, “please let Jaan speak. Perhaps you’ll be able to convince him otherwise with calm words once you hear him out.”

Jaan’s Father gave Andi a hard look, but soon fell back into his chair and let out a long sigh, rubbing his eyes and pinching his nose.

Andi leaned forward. “Jaan, why would you do that? You were just trying to talk me out of it. What reasoning could you have for following me down this path?”

Swallowing hard, Jaan opened his mouth. “Look, I talked to one of the soldiers who were at Jeb’s bar doing some recruiting. He had mentioned that once you become a corporal, you can have the opportunity to do non-combative duties if they feel that you’re better suited for that. We both know that you would be better at that sort of thing. And my feeling is that if I went along I could help you get that promotion faster, somehow. Then, once you’re promoted, I can try to find a way out.”

“But what if I don’t want non-combative duties?” Andi had a look of resentment on his face. “What if I want to prove myself in the areas that I don’t excel in, hmm? Did you ever think of that? Or were you once again thinking of ways to baby me, as everyone has always done?”

“Hey, the officer who was in charge of the recruitment said that combat prowess alone doesn’t get you very far in the HDGA. Maybe, just maybe, I was thinking of that part as well? Look, we both know that with your health, you might not last long once any fighting gets going. And maybe those other soldiers won’t look out for you the way I will. Maybe if I helped you get a head start, you could manage the rest of the race on your own.”

Andi looked at Jaan with half closed eye lids. He honestly wasn’t impressed with Jaan’s little speech. He was still convinced that Jaan was only doing this to try to get in his way. However, if Jaan came along it might take some the heat off of him for enlisting.

“Fine. If you honestly feel that way, then do it. We’re leaving in three days. You’ve got until then to enlist. You could probably just go straight to the land dock and tell them that you’re looking to enlist. They’ll probably be more than willing to let you on board to do so.”

Jaan gave a smile and a nod to his cousin. He then closed his eyes and faced his parents. He wasn’t too thrilled about having to open them back up again, but he did. His Mother’s face was buried into his Father’s chest, and his Father was looking at him with a frown, but in his eyes showed that he was thankful to Jaan for wanting to look out for his cousin.

The next day Jaan went to the landing dock where the HDGA ships had landed. Andi had stayed behind. He had planned on spending the next three days at home, enjoying what he could of home cooking and helping out at the shop until he had to leave.

When Jaan neared the landing dock, he paused for a moment to take the view in. The landing dock was a bustling and constantly active, massive, multilayered complex that had been built over what was essentially a valley between two mountains. The ships never had to touch the ground. Instead, large machines that could hold a considerable amount of weight kept the ships suspended in mid-air, and huge metal platforms, which could be rearranged to accommodate ship size, surrounded each ship so that one could walk around each one full circle. The complex had been designed so that it could accommodate ships of any size, provided they could fit between the mountains. Granted, any ship that was too big to fit in between there would probably never want to leave orbit anyways, as it might never take off again.

Jaan asked one of the harbormasters where the HDGA ships were located. He gave Jaan a frown of boredom and checked his records. Without looking up, he told Jaan where to go. Off in the distance, he saw four HDGA ships, all of which were of considerable size. They looked like they could each hold a few thousand men easily, plus the supplies needed to stay out in space for extended periods of time. Then there was the obvious need for space for energy generators of some kind. In general, they were bigger than most ships in the shipyard, but by no means were they the largest.

Once he reached one of the HDGA ships, the soldiers standing guard stopped him. He explained that he was looking to enlist. They asked for his documents to prove that he had been sent here by a recruitment officer. When he told them he did not have such documents the soldiers frowned.

“You’re going to need to have some enlistment documentation before you can go aboard.”

“I came here because my cousin joined. ‘Andi Reeth’. Check your files and you’ll see I’m telling you the truth.”

“Look, we aren’t saying that we don’t believe you, but the thing is that we are just following protocol.”

“Well, why don’t you have a recruitment officer here next to the ship so that people like me can join if or when they arrive here?”

The four men standing on duty looked at each other and laughed. At first, Jaan thought he had said something wrong.

“Honestly, we have all thought of that before. But there are two reasons why we don’t do that. One is because HDGA regulations don’t allow it. And two, because the government here doesn’t allow anyone to set up shop on these docks, even if it’s only temporary. Look, we’re sorry, but you’ll have to find a recruitment officer somewhere in the city. Unless you’ve been in the basement since yesterday morning, you’ve probably seen or met one by now.”

Jaan sighed and began walking away. He thought of checking Jeb’s bar again, and seeing if they were there. Or maybe Jeb knew where they were now.

But, as luck would have it, Jaan happened to catch sight of a familiar face walking back to the ship as he was walking away. It was Jocelyn, the officer from the bar. Jaan shouted for his attention, and Jocelyn looked at up at him.

“Hey, officer!”

“Ah! Reeth, wasn’t it? Yes, that was it. Jaan Reeth. Good to see you again. So, did your cousin convince you to join?” Jocelyn had a look that was mixed with satisfaction and surprise.

“Not exactly, but yes, I am here to join. They won’t let me aboard to join. They say I need documentation of some kind, from a recruitment officer. Do you think you could help me out?”

Jocelyn gave Jaan a half grin, as if he was apprehensive about something, while at the same time trying to hold back laughter.

“You have the best and worst timing, Jaan. The chance of the two of us seeing each other again is slim to none. So in that sense, you have good timing. However,” Jocelyn smiled widely, “I’m off duty today. I’m off duty today and tomorrow, then on the third day I’ll go back out before we shove off. So in that sense, you have terrible timing.”

Jaan didn’t know whether to be sad or to laugh. He looked at Jocelyn again, and tried to think of something to say but couldn’t.

Jocelyn answered his question for him. “I know what you’re thinking. ‘Why can’t you just sign me on anyway?’. Well, frankly I’m not a recruitment officer right now, I’m just an officer. I tell you what though, if you’re change of heart is sincere, and you really want to enlist, I can go in and sign on as a recruitment officer for today and get you what you need. The thing is though, I will then be forfeiting my day off today, so I’ll expect something in return.”

“I’m afraid I have nothing of value. Maybe I’ll just look for someone in the city somewhere.”

“Hey now, hold on. I didn’t say it had to be something of monetary worth, nor did I say you had to pay it back right away. See, that’s the thing about favors. I do something out of my way for you when you need it, and you will do something out of your way when I need you to. Fair enough?”

Jaan considered his offer. What could a military officer consider a favor? Moreover, didn’t Jocelyn just say that the chance of them seeing each other again was slim? If that was the case, then maybe Jaan wouldn’t ever have to repay this favor…

“Yes, fair enough.”

Jocelyn walked over to the soldiers standing guard, flashed his credentials, and went aboard the ship through one of its many access ramps. Jaan assumed that he must have needed to go deep into the ship, because fifteen minutes passed before Jocelyn returned.

Jocelyn handed Jaan a small holo-form. “Here you go. These are the documents you’ll need to fill out in order to be able to get aboard. When you’ve completed them, show them to any of the soldiers standing by near the access ramps, and he or she will gladly escort you into the ship and will take you to where you are to go.”

“Thank you very much. And I won’t forget that I owe you that favor.”

“And I’ll make sure to keep you to it. Also, though it isn’t official for you yet, you may as well address me properly now. It’ll be good practice.” Jocelyn’s voice had a very slight tone of sarcasm.

At first, Jaan wasn’t sure what he meant, but he soon realized what Jocelyn was expecting. Hesitantly, he said, “Sir.”

Jocelyn stood in his usual fashion with his legs slightly apart and his arms criss-crossed behind his back. He threw back his head and started laughing. “Ha ha! Exactly! And don’t you forget it. But, don’t be too worried about. They’ll tell you all about it when you go in to register, and they’ll drill it into your brain during basic training.”

Jaan didn’t like the way Jocelyn had said that, but he was gone before Jaan could ask him anything more. Jaan turned around and looked at the HDGA ship. He hadn’t planned on this sort of thing ever happening during his lifetime, and in all truth and honesty he didn’t feel like he was actually going. He felt like he was in a dream, and that once he actually joined he would wake up and it would be yesterday morning and the HDGA wouldn’t come, and Andi wouldn’t join. He pinched himself to be sure, and when he didn’t wake up, he let out a long sigh.

When the soldiers standing guard saw Jaan coming again they waved to him. Apparently they already knew that he had the documents, because they had seen Captain Jocelyn walking through with the forms. Having already filled them out, Jaan handed the holo-form to one of the soldiers, who took a s quick glance at it and smiled at him. He motioned for Jaan to follow him aboard and to stay with him. Jaan complied and followed the soldier into the massive ship.

Jaan wasn’t sure what exactly he had been expecting once he had entered through the air-tight door that blocked entrance into the ship, but he wasn’t expecting this. When he got inside, he noticed that the lights seemed to be coming from every surface, and that they were each dimmed to a point. He also saw that there were hand grips on the floor, walls and ceiling, and that some of the equipment seemed to placed in different places all over. Apparently he wasn’t the first person to notice such a thing, because the soldier escorting him answered his unspoken question.

“Only the command deck has artificial gravity, you see. When we are out in space and we, say, run into an enemy or make a wormhole jump to a planet, we could come into battle upside-down relative to the rest of the battle, so the last thing we need is for the crew to get sick when we try to right ourselves for ship to ship combat. I mean, it’s not like the universe has any real sense of up and down, you know? Plus, when we get near a planet, the planet’s gravity does have a small effect on our ship, so again if we came in upside down, that would be pretty bad.”

Jaan hadn’t thought of things like that before. Of course, he’d never actually been out into space before, simply because he had no prior reason to. “That’s very interesting. I’ll have to keep that in mind.”

“Yeah, surprised me the first time I went into battle. We were over a large gas giant somewhere in the Ghorjak Sector, I don’t really remember where. But, also, ships like this generally don’t have artificial gravity because of the massive amount of power it consumes, and we need to save energy for our weapons, our engines, and our life support systems.”

His first time aboard a military vessel, and already Jaan had learned some interesting things. At the very least, he thought, he would get some nice stories to tell out of this.

They made numerous turns and climbed a few ladders that, although they felt like they were going up, they looked they were attached to the floor rather than the wall and in fact it looked like they were actually crawling through a hallway rather than a shaft going up. Once they reached the top of one these “ladders”, they arrived to a level area and the soldier singled out a door for Jaan to go to.

“There’s your destination. Head through that door and do as they say. It shouldn’t take more than fifteen to twenty minutes.”

“Thank you.”

“Anytime.” The soldier smiled and started to walk away, but then stopped and turned around. “Well, now that I think about it, this will probably be your only time, eh? So I guess I won’t be glad to do it for you again, because you won’t need it again!” The soldier left laughing to himself.

Jaan smiled and then turned towards the door. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he really was making the right decision. He remembered, though, the care he had for his cousin, and remembered that Andi wasn’t going to back out of this. Jaan pushed away his anxiety, opened the door, and walked in.