‘So here I am, on the other side of the world. I am not sure if the forty cronies* are trying to punish or reward me yet, but I am certain of one thing above all else; they want me gone’ Maria quietly wrote into her old leather-bound journal, a bizarre object in this digital age. She stopped writing briefly to look at her surroundings for the first time in three hours. The light of the sun was growing slightly stronger, sunbeams coming through openings in the cliff-side battlement from which she was sitting beside.
The Eleven turret gunners beside her were apparently cold with their shivering and scowling as they looked for signs of attack, though Maria felt nothing. At least the cold seems to make them more attentive Maria thought.
They ignored her; she went back to ignoring them. There was an almost total silence except for a faint cough down the corridor leading into the mountain base. Maria, unaffected, returned to her writing. ‘These people, the Elevens. They seem disciplined enough... but this country appears to already be lost. I can feel it, and the Elevens all show it on their faces. The failure of that buffoon, Zero, seems to have stripped away whatever belief in victory they had before’ Maria continued writing, glancing again at the scowling Eleven gunner. Another cough from the corridor echoed down the corridor.
'Still, they persist. In a way, it is all too similar to my beloved Ukr-'
Maria stopped writing when an Eleven soldier appeared from the darkness of the corridor, walking straight up to her before standing at attention, followed by a crisp salute.
'Lieutenant Doroshenko, General Sho requests your presence at the war room' the man spoke with an official, practiced tone.
Maria simply stared at him with a blank face, though privately shocked. Either this man has made a terrible mistake or Sho has gone behind Commander Blake’s back.
'Soldier, are you certain that General Sho requested me specifically?'
'Yes ma’am'.
'Then so be it'. Maria stood up, and followed the man down the corridor to the war room. This mission is probably going to be exceptionally dangerous if they want me there, still trying to think of a reasonable answer why they wanted her for this mission.
Or perhaps Sho has finally recognised that he needs results for this resistance to continue.
After almost ten minutes of walking, Maria walked into the War room, finding that coward Guilloux and the Eleven girl already present. She gave them a brief look before facing directly towards General Sho.
'Lieutenant Maria Doroshenko, reporting for duty sir'. She stated, giving a salute. Technically, Sho wasn’t really her commanding officer or even in the same army, but fighting for so many different ‘native’ forces against Britannia has taught her that all the generals were the same in the end.
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*: referring to the Council of 40, the governing body of Europia United.
