Alptraum (Nightmare)
An Alternative History Affair
By TekcoR
Flashback
Chapter 4
For Your Information
“Sit down, Colonel,” my adjutant said seconds after leading me into the room, he stood behind his desk; which unnerved me further. I looked at him; my movements were blatant and calculated. The eloquent dance of our eye contact carried on for an enduring seven seconds before he sat down and readjusted his green eyes to look straight into mine. “Colonel,” he repeated, “There is no easy way to say this.” He let out a long sigh that revealed he spoke the truth.
He unfolded his arms in a deliberately slow movement and placed his palms down on his desk, shoulders width apart from each other. “I am involved in a group of individuals who seek to procure victory in an alternative method.” He stopped; I had a hunch that there was more to my new aide’s involvement than he initially let alone. It was fairly obvious. The air of the room was filled with the scent of nervousness. I felt slightly more in control of the situation, though still bitterly uncomfortable for I didn’t see a clear resolution.
He read my face and continued on. “I have been involved in this conversation since before the betrayal by the Soviet Union. The groups’ determination to achieve victory has been accelerated by recent events. There are members within the group that seek to carry out our discussions before they have been fully vetted out. It is quite a predicament. I find myself in a terrible situation.” He almost started crying, his palms off the desk, and half way between his face and their previous position.
I maintained my eye contact with von Wren, but did not speak. I pondered the implications, the meaning of the massive revelation that would be a valuable asset to me. I could turn in my new assistant, and be handsomely rewarded by the regime. Yet deep down, there were unresolved issues. It was no secret; I had heard countless plots and rumored attempts to remove the Führer one way or another. The fate of these people was pre-determined it seemed, within a matter of days generally, the Gestapo announced that several dissident military personnel, civilians, foreign fugitives or a combination of both or all three were arrested and never heard from again.
My mind, my years of service under the Führer instantly came to mind. I had now sworn abided and lived by the oath to him for close to seven years. The terms of service under the Führer was heavily outweighed by my oath to the former Weimar Republic; which I had seen abolished and replaced by the very man my assistant sought to do away with. I had seen a monumental head of state figure removed before when I was still a teenager fighting in the first war. I recalled the disheartening moment when I had heard about the forced abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
I knew that like me, thousands of soldiers felt betrayed by the loss of the Kaiser, it was another injury to the insult that the war was being lost. I had grown up respecting the authority, the pomp and circumstance that the monarchy brought to the united Germany. Though my time under the direct service of the Kaiser’s military venture was short, mere months, I often reflected on those days when my youthful ambition got the best of me.
Though I knew the risk of removing a leader during a time of war and the consequences, I did not pursue the thought of arresting my assistant. Deep down, the feelings that I had suppressed often and with great difficulty at times were emerging with renewed vigor. I attempted to the best of my efforts to hide my feelings from my adjutant, but that was impossible. I looked him straight into the eyes.
“I am in.”
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Originally Posted by KLorberau
