While friendly forces are out there fighting a bloody, gruesome war, as serious as can be, I lay napping in a rear base, roll over, wake up, and immediately look for chocolate.
Naturally, it is only real, high-grade chocolate. None of that cheap stuff for me. I munch on the luxury chocolate provided by the General Staff Office. With a richly fragrant coffee—not only real, but also freshly roasted—in one hand, I grab yet another honey-laden biscuit.
Oh, I almost forgot. I fit one of the sugary biscuits in my other hand.
Restraint? Frugality? Keep those stingy words to yourself. So what if we are at war out there? So what if the soldiers, working in shifts, don’t even have a hot meal? Who cares? For now, I get to savor the hot stew, full of rich, hefty chunks of meat. Yes, finally. Satisfied with food in my belly, I pile into the airplane and set off on a midnight flight.
From that description alone, it sounds like we are about to take an elegant journey across friendly skies. How scandalous. Perhaps some high-minded folks out there might be tempted, morally speaking, to decry such thoughts, to which I gladly invite them to join us on this trip.
After all, this may as well be our Last Supper.
The fully armed and outfitted soldiers have been provided this little bit of consideration by the base’s storekeepers before they depart on a one-way nighttime flight from which there is almost no hope of return. So if one were tempted to criticize such a thing as a luxury, I say to them, perhaps you are the one who needs to practice better restraint.
I am still entertaining these thoughts as the transport, packed full of soldiers, takes off without issue.
“The marriage of pilot and machine is a marvelous thing,” I mutter softly, impressed.
Taking off at night is no easy task at the best of times. And in a stodgy, jumbo transport plane, laden with cargo… Additionally, the surface of the runway is hardly in good repair. A pilot capable of taking off smoothly in such a heavy transport plane under these conditions must be a veteran of rare proportions.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking, Air Force First Lieutenant Hans Schulz. We are currently circling blind over base air space. According to reports from observation planes, cloud cover to our destination is at a seven.”
The pilot, who hails from the Imperial Army 472nd Transport Wing, pauses for a moment before continuing.
“Control is giving us the flashing signal. All planes have taken off successfully. We are currently pulling into formation. We’ve now reached the scheduled time, so as much as it irks my goat, if crew would prepare for hijack, please.”
The pilot strangely stresses the word “irk” as he speaks over the intercom, causing the mages on board to burst out into laughter. I can appreciate this breed of professional humor.
“Ha-ha, gentlemen, it seems our poor pilot is angry. Major Weiss, Lieutenant Serebryakov, follow me. It’s time to hijack the plane. Lieutenant Grantz, you come as well.”
As I enter the narrow cockpit with my second-in-command, adjutant, and First Lieutenant Grantz in tow, I spot the flight engineer coaxing the engine and the pilot making careful final adjustments to the autopilot system.
Usually, I would have preferred for them to stay aboard until we reach our destination, but wasting such specialist technicians on a one-way flight is not within acceptable cost-benefit margins. Thus, as much as the pilots protest, the two men are being asked to disembark here.
I speak frankly. “Thank you for your hard work, Lieutenant. We’re here to hijack your plane. Legally, of course, in accordance with military law. If you wouldn’t mind handing over the control stick,” I say.
The pilot turns around with just his face, sighs, and shakes his head dramatically, left to right.
“I am Air Force First Lieutenant Han Schulz. This plane is my baby. How can the higher-ups ask something like this of me?”
“This transport plane is going to be abandoned. That’s excessive enough. There’s no need to drag you both down with it. Thank you for your service, but you can disembark now.”
“Very kind, but there’s no need to worry for my sake. If you don’t mind, I’d rather stay aboard until the end.”
His tone of voice and the look in his eyes are serious. This pilot is prepared to go down with his ship. But I shake my head. To be honest, I would love for him to come with us. But unfortunately, as a good company man, Tanya must think of the company’s best interests.
“What, you think we can’t navigate a plane? We’ve even got an autopilot system. All we need to do is fly it in a straight line, and if everything goes okay, we’ll be at our destination before we know it. We can also make a few adjustments if need be. Besides, not to be rude, but when it comes to flying by night, we’re the ones with more experience, after all.”
“If, if, if. What if there’s an accident? What are you going to do then?”
“Worst-case scenario, so long as we get to target airspace, we’ll figure something out. Remember, the plane is going to be disposed of anyway.”
“All the pride I took in never once getting shot down, just to lose my baby to something like this in the end!” laments the pilot, before heaving yet another massive sigh. His eyes rest on the gleaming instrumentation. It looks like he has given them a good polish as one final farewell… The pilot’s face as he clutches the control stick looks like he doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“I’ve even given enemy fighters the slip… I can’t believe this. I never imagined that in the end, it’d be my own side’s barbarism that would get me. Ain’t that some shit,” he jokes, though undoubtedly he means part of what he says. Who wouldn’t complain at seeing such well-loved tools of the trade snatched from their fingers at upper management’s whims, when they were still performing so admirably?
It’s rare for any work to be meaningless enough to merit the firing of someone you would rather not fire. I, myself, would rather let the pro do his work and not destroy such professional tools. If this is not an example of true work, after all, what is?
Why do I, of all people, have to be responsible for such waste?