No Good Deed

[Commissar]

No Good Deed

"The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our life-time."
Sir Edmund Grey

Jana Achen

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A house built of cards was bound to fall. Cards caught the eye, certainly, clubs and hearts and diamonds that flitted and swayed in the breeze like festival dancers. But they were only paper, in the end, and when the wind shifted they would fall like the autumn leaves.

Had fallen. Cards and ideals were not so dissimilar.

Jana Achen licked a finger and turned the page of the book in her lap. Freya's room had few chairs, and fewer frills. The Vorsitzende of the Widerstand sat perched at her desk like an eagle, back straight, faux-military uniform immaculate. Jana had retrieved the single plastic chair that sat opposite her and had made her own seat in the room's corner. A good location, for someone more interested in watching than speaking. Their visitors would have to stand, of course, but that suited her well enough. Negotiating from the same position as an opponent was poor form.

Klugmann's Widerstand lay in tatters. It was no longer a matter of debate. Operational squadrons were countable on one hand. Functional spacecraft squatted in their hangers, abandoned to the cold embrace of vacuum, waiting for pilots long since departed or dead. Klugmann's hard-won allies had all but vanished.

The Natio Octavium had retreated to the uncertain embrace of their half-formed worlds, taking the promise of aid with them. Offended by the idealistic heavy-handedness of Klugmann's campaigns, the Hessians and Coalition had inched away from the floundering Bundschuh. The enigmatic Order, if they cared, were too distant and too concerned with their own backyard to offer anything more than condolences.

The Zwickau disaster had been the final nail in a coffin forged by long years of neglect, of peace offerings to an opponent that had long since decided on the Bundschuh's annihilation. Klugmann had offered the Kanzler's forces the olive branch, and they had beaten him to death with it.

Instead of rallying against the forces that struck them, the remnants of the Widerstand crouched in the shadow of their centuries-old stations, watching the skies for the tell-tale streak of a kinetic round. Fear had made them weak, and weakness had bought the predators as surely as blood bought sharks. The Unioners were stronger than they had ever been.

Last week, the Widerstand had lost another transport. Now, they survived on the kindness of strangers and the scraps their sparse raiding parties retrieved. Erich's dream of a peaceful, prosperous Widerstand had faded to dust before the Kanzler's guns.

Jana could almost bring herself to pity the sentimental young fool. Almost. But the Bundschuh was comatose, not dead. Only time would tell if it could remain so, and there was none of it to waste on pity for the past.

"A fine start to the evening, Vorsitzende." Jana turned a page without a glance at the younger woman. Milton's Paradise Lost. Freya had inherited the remnants of Klugmann’s Widerstand. A former Volksfront officer and one-time student activist, the faltering movement must have been an all-too-familiar sight. They were both shadows, now. "Another transport lost, and your aktivists decide now is the time to offer tours."

Jana was no military officer. In place of a uniform, she wore a civilian suit, long dress hanging above her ankles. Where Freya carried a pistol, Jana carried only a terminal. It was the only weapon she needed.

"These security breaches were tolerated in the past only out of respect for the wishes of the parliament." Jana's tone was light. She could have been discussing the weather. "As Vorsitzende, I remind you, you have a responsibility to all sects of the Bundschuh. If you insist on shielding your own members at the expense of the Bundschuh as a whole I cannot prevent die Festung pressing parliament for the dissolution of the position of Parteivorsitzende."

She flipped another page. "Ours is not the only sect pulling at the reins, Freya. The situation is delicate enough without throwing further salt in the wound. If you allow this -." A single thin eyebrow crept up. "I cannot shield the Widerstand from the fallout. It was enough convincing die Festung we were not better off on our own after Zwickau. Another security breach may well convince us that we would be better off looking to our own security, free of the Widerstand."

OOC: | Hullo folks. Post order for this one’ll be Commissar, TheJarl, Vaelin. They’ll be a couple of initial posts between TheJarl and I to sort the scene, and then I’ll bring Sparks and Vaelin in. Let me know if I’ve got any assumptions wrong in here and I’ll be happy to sort them!

To clarify, die Festung is one of the sects that united under Klugmann's direction to elect a collective leader for the various Bundschuh groups. |

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May you live in interesting times.
| Sarah McFarlen | Jane Hartman |