157 – Across the Line (2)
Uk ranian Army Training Center.
The headquarters of the 1st Training Regiment.
I turned my head to Luna while lying on the cot and holding Bell’s hand.
“I think we have a lot to talk about… ….”
“Yes.”
It was early in the morning when they were rescued, but it wasn’t until several hours later that they were able to talk face-to-face.
Because the corruption committed by the National Military Police was more serious than I thought.
It took quite a while just to clear things up, hand over command of the gendarmerie to Brigadier General Erich Abakov, and talk with representatives of the civil protesters.
All the representatives were big figures.
The chairman of the business association that manages the busiest street in the capital city of Kayef, the owners of all sorts of merchants.
Among them was a reporter from the Wilson Times.
Sarah Ronald, the Wilson Times’ Uk ran correspondent, was doing her job faithfully.
They moved around the shelters they had secured in advance, and continued to publish newspapers.
In association with the couriers (most of them are from slums and are said to have gone far in evading tracking), they have been continuously delivering only solid ‘facts’ to citizens.
Thanks to this, citizens were also able to come together with a precise cause.
Of course, in addition to the media, there are also engineers and scientists who are actively accepting foreign culture and starting to rise.
I asked them to continue to pressure the Petrobuna Palace instead of avoiding armed conflict as much as possible.
They also generally agreed that there was no ‘armed conflict’.
The current situation in Uk ran is very unstable politically.
The Empire’s franchises may have already infiltrated consumption—no, at this point, it should have penetrated 100%.
There was also a high probability that the coup attempt itself was planned by the Empire.
This kind of political clash continues.
If it expands not only to the capital city but also to the whole country, showing a clear ‘civil war’ aspect… ….
The empire might actively intervene in consumption using that as an excuse.
In addition, ‘some’ areas in the eastern part of Uk ran are still areas that the Sobie Empire continues to claim sovereignty over.
There was also the possibility of a sudden military invasion taking advantage of the chaotic situation.
Therefore, all-out clashes between civilians and the military had to be avoided as much as possible.
Even if they are traitors who staged a coup.
“Are your hands okay?”
I said looking at Luna, who was wrapped in bandages.
Bell Meyer and Luna Aire were also obvious victims, but the two were busy taking care of their comrades who had suffered worse than themselves.
Even though he had to take a break right away, he steadfastly defended the field.
Though Luna, who was not tortured, was in good condition.
I couldn’t say that Bell’s condition was good even with empty words. If he didn’t even hold my hand like this, he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep while trembling.
“It’s okay. She only has bruises and should be completely healed in a few days.”
“Thank God.”
“How has it been? Have you met Nikolai?”
Nikolai.
The name finally came out of my mouth.
“Okay, I think we should talk a little bit about that Nikolai. What the hell happened that day?”
In fact, it was the death of Nikolai and the arrest of Luna Ayre that the coup d’état began to emerge completely above water.
From that incident on, the national military police began to run wild.
“I heard you talking, so I guess I haven’t met you yet.”
“Anyway, he’s still alive.”
Luna nodded her head without saying a word, and she began to unravel the truth of that night that had been in question the whole time.
“The day you and Nikolai met, Nikolai called me out late at night. To the sewage treatment plant north of Kayep.”
This was the place where the body of Nikolai Hilbert was found.
“I was wondering what was going on, but he said he had deciphered the note given by the Hafenruuk brigadier and told me to beware of the military police.”
“I checked that far. Luna, it was left under the table at the tavern you mentioned.”
“I’m glad you understand. What…… Enoch, I thought you would understand.”
Luna bursts out laughing as if she’s collapsed, and then she goes on with her words.
“But then I was attacked.”
“A raid?”
“…… To the people of the Soviet Empire.”
The moment I heard that, I realized that a situation I never wanted had become a reality.
***
Nikita, a 54th trainee at the Uk ranian Army Training Center, still didn’t know exactly how things were going.
Surely, the last parking lot, ‘tactical camping training’, hadn’t been going on until a few days ago?
But…… What a coup.
I still don’t feel it.
Nikita’s jockey had already entered the training center for two months.
Thus, at the same time as this parking lot was over, they were supposed to meet the graduation ceremony that they had been dreaming of and dreamed of until they completed the schedule of marching all the way around the city of Kayep.
And how well the timing was, as it coincided with the birthday celebrations of King Orlando Ruth III.
Rumors also circulated that the King of Gong would come and congratulate him for his achievements at this graduation ceremony.
The so-called ‘royal’ jockey.
Nothing was known for certain, but as the King of Gong personally praised the ball, there was a high probability that he would be placed in the center.
Like I was about to fall asleep after the exhausting training process, a loud siren rang throughout the training center.
Nikita was startled and bewildered by the sound of the siren he had never heard before.
-This is a national emergency! Everyone wake up and be happy! Go right away as soon as it’s ready!!
– What’s up?
-I don’t know! But it’s definitely not unusual. It’s not training, it’s real life!!
Usually after about a month, I became somewhat friendly with the assistants who were just as scared.
But at dawn that day, even the teaching assistants.
No, even the instructors, who are executives who control such teaching assistants, were clearly confused.
Anyway, when I finished changing clothes as instructed, weapons loaded with bullets were supplied.
Unless it was a special course such as shooting or tactical training, I hardly ever held a gun.
When she came to her senses, Nikita’s hand was holding a weapon that could kill a person if she pulled the trigger right away.
Even though I’ve touched it several times, it feels like the first time.
Armed like that, Nikita was paired up with the senior soldiers inside the training center, whom he had nothing to face, and was sent to the training center spire.
That’s also the second day today.
At first, the air, which had been tense as if an all-out war would break out at any moment, was noticeably loosening.
If it’s natural, it’s natural.
It was because a large-scale uprising of citizens took place in various places in the capital today, and most of the troops who were besieging the army training center had escaped.
In the direction from the training center to the Petrobuna Palace, the Guard Division was still aiming guns.
Other than that, I couldn’t even find a coup d’état force.
“Then it is. Traitor bastards…… ! Kyaaak, twee!”
Sergeant Hamilton, who had been involved in the operation with him all along, spat under the wall.
The troops at the training center range from trainees who have not yet worn rank insignia to high-ranking officers.
It was right after I had already received all the information from Enoch Levandel and Lieutenant General Littenhark, the head of the Army Training Center.
They knew that the people on the other side were the culprits behind all this.
“Still, I’m very glad.”
“I was blindfolded. They must have thought that we would understand that we knew that they were hitting each other.”
“Wouldn’t the damage have been much worse though? If it had collided properly, dozens of people would have already died.”
“Is that so?”
In just two short days, too many things happened.
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In the process, Nikita realized much more than during the month-long training period.
The fact that this wooden stick he was holding could kill people so easily with a simple pull of the trigger.
“By the way, where did you get hurt?”
“It’s okay.”
Nikita caressed the sore beside his ear.
On the first day, when sporadic fighting broke out, he was scarred by a bullet that had just barely grazed his head.
On that day alone, five people were injured.
Fortunately, he didn’t die, but I still vividly remember the shock of seeing the real motive behind being shot.
“Still, it looks like it’s really coming to an end. Citizens have risen up, what are they going to do?”
The war situation, which had started extremely unfavorably, had now gone beyond fixation and was driving the forces of the coup into a corner.
Artillery was needed to break through the barriers of the Army Training Center, which were protected by strong fortified walls.
We also heard hopeful news that the urgently mobilized artillery of the Eastern Corps was enlisted by the Special Response Brigade and the Northern Corps.
Even if it’s on the side of the Army Training Center.
The coup d’état forces are on the contrary to dying withering.
If a series of confusions are settled, the trainees and soldiers at the training center who fought together today will be evaluated as ‘true warriors’ who protected the king.
“But…… Wait, can you see that?”
“What do you mean?”
“On the wall over there.”
Nikita looked in the direction Hamilton pointed.
I couldn’t see it closely because it was the time when the sun had completely set, but there were several black figures swaying.
As the fortress was converted into a training center, it was protected by a huge wall that followed the grain.
Of course, patrolling troops were to be placed not only on the spire, but also on the wall, but now was not the time for patrolling normally.
“Let me check the patrol schedule for a while.”
Just as Nikita was about to lower her head to check his work log.
Fun.
Clang! Puck!
With the sound of windows shattering, Hamilton slumped against the wall.
“Sergeant…… !!!!!!”
He was shot in the head precisely and died instantly. Nikita’s mind flashed at the sight of the senior soldier who had become a corpse with his eyes wide open.
But at the same time.
Nikita instinctively raised his gun and fired it into the air. He acted only with the thought of somehow reporting the intrusion.
Bang!!! Taang!!!! Bang!!! Bang!!!
Continue to pull the trigger. When he pulled back his loading handle, the metal cartridge case ricocheted to the floor.
“aaa!!!”
Nikita screamed.
There was a bell notifying the intrusion at the guard post, but she couldn’t bear to stretch her hand out there.
It was because when she got up, she felt like she would become like a senior soldier in front of her eyes.
Bang!! Bang!!!!
Ping—!
And when she finally ran out of all her magazines.
Pip, pip, jingrang!! Strange gunshots echoed in his ears, and broken windows fell in front of his eyes.
Is he dying now? Still, if I were to die, I wanted to die fighting until the end.
Nikita was loading the next clip with trembling fingers.
Waaa-!!
“An intruder occurred at the back gate of the Eastern Spire, Training Center. Urgently broadcast. An intruder occurred at the Eastern Spire, the back gate of the training center!!”
Soon, I was encouraged by the sound of alarm sirens that resonated throughout the Army Training Center along with lights that brightened the night.
His own role was over.