Some space to breathe

[Shelco]

You wouldn't expect the Leeds system to be a place where men and women alike would have spent their lives on, before Gallia decided to set this peaceful idyll a sudden end, one that turned it into a war zone, a field where the hatred of three nations come together to slaughter each other every day. There were enough denizens, too many, in fact, who would see the skirmish as a proof of power, as a show-off contest for the biggest Ego, disgusting. Florence was stationed on the RNS Betheny, a Valor that was floating around Planet Leeds, most aware of what was going on every day there, the crew, which has seen everything by now, was visibly scarred by the battles, the war was draining and the energy was always low. Yet, something made them continue, was it the eternal determination for their King and Kingdom? Was Gallia herself a factor, that made people motivated enough to kill others? They had their own Stories, most of them more generic than others. In fact, they decided for themselves, carved their own destiny on a tombstone, aware of a number of lives that the war demanded, not only in total but every moment. It has not only been once that Florence has been asked, what would happen if Gallia won this everlasting war, and despite the fact that she always had an answer prepared, it ceased to be different each time, no, it was always the same: The Kingdom will be expanded, the conquest will finish. But in her own head, the question for more came into thought, what if Gallia didn't have enough? What if Gallia thought it would be good to take Rheinland and Kusari as well? It would certainly be easy if Bretonia and Liberty were united under the Gallic flower.

She sat at her desk, positioned in front of a medium-sized window that was revealing a nice view of the smog cloud and a bit of the docking ring, which was visible. She watched the ships going in and out of the planet, the Gallic Metal Service was highly interested in the industries on Leeds, but those were partly blown up already. Separatist movements by survivors and refugees on the planet emerged and decided to fight a small war against the attempt to officially make this planet one of theirs. These thoughts made her let out a sigh, her head fell into her left hand which was leaning on the table. She was just about to write something in her diary, yet again, but the pencil was not in motion anymore, for a few minutes already. Florence wasn't that much of a dreamer usually, but today, she couldn't keep herself from drowning in thoughts, her mind drifting anywhere but on her focus. The war was bothering her, she thought she was showing signs of Paranoia already, but luckily, she forgot that already. It is not unusual for soldiers, to become crazy, what would you do, if you were exposed to endless violence all day, despite it also being in space combat, it is always the same. But as horrible as it sounded, Florence caught herself a little again and sat straight once more, a happy thought, a happy thought had to run through her mind now. A little smirk could be seen on her face as she slowly reached with her left hand to her right shoulder, where the emblem of the Gallic Royal Navy was on. She gently slid over it and felt its little form, she was proud when she touched it, the bad thoughts erased for a moment.

Now something else came into her mind, merde, she thought, as she became aware of drifting away again, but it felt like a calming lullaby all the time, way too good to ignore, it was relaxing, that was for sure. But it also became troublesome and scary sometimes, like the feel of death that covered you into beautiful white shades before taking you with him. For once, she thought about the other side, the bretonians, specifically. Another story of war, through the eyes of an Armed Forces soldier, although it would look completely different, it wouldn't be so for her. Some soldiers of the Royal Navy believed in the good, that was supposed to shape the conquest, complete nonsense, she thought, again, aware of the fading away in thoughts. It was bad, horrible, brutal, Gallia is the enemy in this world, they never were saints, and she doubted that the King would want them to be seen as such. Way too obvious is the attempt to conquer Sirius with all means necessary. But why did she fight it then? It must seem really weak of her, being against all this, yet fighting for it, why was she not with the Council? But she knew that to be a lie, she loved her home, she loved the crown, she loved the possibilities she had, her life finally beginning to take a shape. Sirius was not ready for Gallia, but Gallia was ready for Sirius, that much was clear, she was still too supportive of Gallia to be against the crown, her position, always rising, her responsibilities, always staggering, no way, she could run.

In a short moment of self-gathering, her eyes hastily roved over the diary entry she wrote the other day. One particular word came into her mind, which was Kyou, she suddenly remembered the trip she planned. This was what ripped her out of all the daydreaming, harsh reality kicked in again. She forgot to tell the Captain of the Betheny, who was responsible for all the stationed soldiers, even though she was a Commander. She quickly got herself up, her vision a bit spinning from the sudden movements, her body was way too calm before, and now she was stressed again, how great. She slapped the diary together and put it in the little commode next to her desk. Her room was small and unimpressive. A Fleur de Lys was hanging, and therefore, apparently decorating the room. She sometimes wondered if it was there to motivate the soldiers to fight or to run back home. It was warm in her uniform, the whole system felt rather hot, but that was just an illusion, she didn't like being there. All the smog, dust and dirt, even the planet was rather disappointing for her, even so far, that she wondered why Gallia would love to have it, completely forgetting its use while doing so. She threw her hair over her shoulders to not look like she didn't care about her apperance, something that many gallics laid too much worth on, not her. This was partly because of MI, who would call her cute and beautiful so often, that she started to hide the thought of pretentious beauty and aspired looks, she learned to fully like herself the way she is.

The push she made on the controls next to the door, after scanning her fingerprint, was rather rough as if it was necessary, she seemed to flee from that room more than she thought. And indeed, as she stepped outside into the hallway, the air was a bit fresher and much easier to breathe. A young male soldier passed her, giving her a little weird look as he saw her taking a deep breath, given, that it must've looked a little weird. She didn't notice it until he was passing her and instead focused on finally doing what she was supposed to do, notifying the captain. The way to the bridge was, to her luck, not too long, her room was positioned at the fron of the ship, near the forward gun, this would cause a loud sound buzzing through the front when it was shot, which didn't happen too often, though. The sound of her steps on the metal ground became so loud for her after some time on the ship, that she learned to simply forget its bare existence, she missed the natural ground, or even soft earth or sand, the feeling of having cold earth under her feet or warm sand between her toes just made her even more eager to take some time off, causing her to speed up her step, but only a little.

"Excusez-Moi, Captain?" she said with a soft tone, two minutes later as she finally reached the bridge. The people were busy everywhere, while the Captain was leaning over a large screen with a lot of information on it, he seemed stressed, so her approach was rather careful. Slowly, he turned around, a slight smile appearing on his face as he saw that it was Florence who was speaking to him. "Commandant, what are you doing here on this... beautiful bridge." The 'beautiful' was so clearly audible sarcastic it was a pain to listen to, the responsibilities on the Betheny were nothing but tiring for the whole crew. "I just wanted to say that I won't be here in the next days." A smirk decorated her face as she was finished with speaking. The Captain, however, he let out a simple 'hmph' and then leaned on the table with one hand again, adjusting the typical head decoration. "Where is la Madame going?" He said and his eyes wandered back at her. "I will have a trip through Gallia, showing a friend around, you know?" This time, she ended her sentence with a smile, yet it was more prentious and supposed to have a positive effect than being an expression of emotion. "Is there a chance you have a place free?" The Captain said and smirked at her. They both had to laugh at this, she could understand him, and how she would have liked to help him getting away from here as well for some time, but that wasn't possible. "I'm afraid that this is not possible, don't worry, I won't be gone for long, then you can keep giving me new things to command because you alone cannot handle it." Her voice was still a bit influenced by the laugh that the Captain caused, but it was nice to laugh in such situations, it really kept the mood up sometimes. He responded with a slight nod and a shrug followed, his eyes wandered outside one of the panoramic windows. "Well..." A few seconds of silence before he continued to talk. "I am not stopping you from anything, Commandant, technically, you don't even need to ask, I am not your boss, but I appreciate that you ask me prior to disappearing, you did your job very well and deserve it, I'll be glad when you're back and help me controlling this mess." He said to her, sounding very normally, it showed, that he was really honest with what he said. Florence smiled and nodded back at him. "Merci, Captain, you're all doing a great job and should take some time off, but I know this sadly cannot happen, I will be back as soon as I can." She said and turned around again, it went better than she thought, and he was right, she didn't have to ask, but still did, her strict past never let her go, apparently. The Captain watched her leaving the bridge for a few seconds before letting out a sigh, realizing he would now have to go back to work, back into the world, that the gallic soldiers stationed in Leeds had to see as "reality".

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