The two figures that had dominated the Widerstand and the entire Bundschuh party for several years had both mysteriously vanished within a few months from each other. It was more than just a simple power vacuum. Both sides of an internal struggle of ideology had lost their influential leaders. The dualism of VWA leader Erich Klugmann, the populist, and Party leader Freya Eistochter, the militant, was gone. There was nothing to fill the gap.
The rivals were now gone, but the party had only become even less unified as a result. The situation was becoming eerie. On all Bundschuh station whispers were heard, rumour spread. Various people and groups sought to push their own agendas while the commanding figures of the Widerstand that remained, most notably Nika Haupt and Michael Wolf, sought to restore order to the organisation.
The Klugmannist camp, consisting of many more moderate members and a large number of commanding officers, was largely content with the disappearance of the violent Eistochter and a significant part supported the efforts to get the organisation to get back on its feet. The fiercely revolutionary doctrine of Eistochter seemed to have quickly lost many of its followers after she left. But, in the barracks, in the hallways and in the bars, if one listened closely one could hear amongst the whispers and rumours that the revolutionaries were still around and they still had their agenda to push.
A man and a woman in their early twenties, wearing the uniform of VWA Aktivists, nervously sat in a corner of the Bruchsal mess hall. Their eyes constantly shifting and regularly looking over their shoulders. They didn’t talk much and when the man did start talking it was quiet, barely audible. “Why isn’t he here yet? What is taking him so long? I have a bad feeling about this, Rosa.” The woman identified as Rosa reacted annoyed. “This was your idea! If the guy didn’t seem trustworthy why did you drag me into this, Karl?”
A tall, slightly muscular man with a neatly trimmed beard and short brown hair interrupted the two. “Come with me.” Was the only thing he said. The man lead the two across many hallways to finally arrive at a small office. The name of whose office it was had been removed from the door. The man looked around to see if no one else was around and then waved a card before a scanner next to the door, unlocking it. The three quickly stepped inside and closed the door. The office was apparently out of use as there was nothing to indicate any recent activities. Only an empty desk and a few chairs could be found in the room.
“So,” the unnamed man started. “You two wish to help set the Bundschuh back on the path of revolution?”
“Some say that recent events were just fate. Karma even. That it was our lady’s fault for using the methods that she did. That our ways can never succeed.” The man chuckled. “Those who say so don’t mean anything of that. The revolutionary cause has been undermined by the lowest of the lowest. Our lady may be pragmatic and her ways may not always sit well with the naïve idealistic knights in shining armour. But beneath the façade of a moral high ground, her opponents are worse. They pretend to be better while stabbing others in the back.”
He looked Rosa in the eye for a second and then the same with Karl. “But treachery, that is a method people won’t get away with. Those sects and those people who endanger the success and even the very existence of the Bundschuh, they must be stopped. And they will be.”
Rosa and Karl nodded. The two were full of youthful energy and fierce in their convictions. "Rosa and I will do anything for the revolution." The unnamed man smiled. "Good." He raised his fist in the air. "Welcome to the Revolutionäre Streiträfte of the Vereinigte Widerstandsarmee," the man said as Rosa and Karl raised their fists as well.
"For now we can't act openly yet. Our opponents have gathered much support and taken most influential positions in the Widerstand. Their next step will be to secure their power over the party. We will let them do the latter freely. The power of the Widerstand is in our interest as well after all. We will need to focus on increasing our influence within the Widerstand and among the other sects."
The room was full of posters and flags. All kinds of symbols were seen on them. Of course a large flag directly opposite of the door with the Bundschuh eagle. It was the first thing one would see when they entered. But this wasn’t a simple party office. If one looked around one could find the quill fist of Vereinigte Widerstandsarmee, a red version of the eagle (as used by Rote Adler), various propaganda posters, posters calling people to vote for Friederich Heissler in the leadership elections and many more curiosities. But perhaps most fascinating of all was a red flag featuring former party leader Freya Eistochter in front of stylistic orange sun. This highly peculiar flag wasn’t ever seen before, though this was bound to change.
Until a month ago this room had been used weekly at best for meetings between representatives of the Widerstand and Munich’s local Bundschuh sects. Now, it was in full use all the time. Large oval table had about 10 people sitting at it and there were four desks with people working behind them. They were in fact still working towards the same purpose as previously had been in this office, but perhaps not quite the way some people would have liked it. The Widerstand, Rote Adler and some smaller sects were suddenly cooperating more intensely than ever.
It was here that Rosa and Karl Weydemeyer had first been sent to when they arrived at Eltmann. After conducting a rather spectacular attack to prove their worth to the small militia they were part of on Nuremberg, they were smuggled off the planet. The police wanted them, dead or alive, and their skills were thought to be of more use to a spaceborne paramilitary division of the Bundschuh. Rote Adler, who connect the many largely autonomous Nuremberg militias and the Bundschuh, brought the pair to Eltmann Moor. In the aforementioned office they were introduced to the Widerstand and recruited into their ranks. Although the office had become more active already back then, it still looked fairly normal. It didn’t seem to be anything more than coordination between two distinctly separate organisations.
It was different now. This wasn’t simply conveniently working together. Rote Adler and the Widerstand’s division on Eltmann were forming a single front. Their respective commanders united by a shared ideology. That flag that now hung in the office so casually, as if it was no different from a sect’s own symbol, that flag was the one these people would together march under. It was the flag that Rosa and Karl would fight for.
Those twins entered the office and were greeted by Shadiya Nejem. “Rosa, Karl, it’s good that you came so quickly, I need you to do something for me. There’s a load of propaganda materials from the Militante Verlag destined for Bruchsal currently waiting to be shipped. I want you to fly the freighter and do some slight… ‘adjustments’ to the cargo.
There’s a considerable amount of copies of ‘The Decaying Cycle’, don’t you think it would be really unfortunate if they’d, say, they accidentally get mixed up with the boxes of misprints that were waiting to be destroyed?”
Shadiya smiles and winks mischievously. “Oh and one more thing.” She leans in and whispers, apparently what was next was not something that all in the office were supposed to know about.
“There’s a box that has some Blood Dragon leaflets, or at least at the top that’s what’s in there. Underneath it are some notes that I need you to deliver to the storage room next to the offices of the flight instructors. Oh and take a few notes with you yourself.”
“Vote Heissler! The only time you can actually vote for a revolution!”
“Strength in diversity! Heissler will defend the autonomy of all sects and station administrations!”
“It is time to complete the ideas put forward by Genossin Eistochter! Militancy is the only way! Vote Heissler!”
“Neither career politicians nor naïve idealists! Only dedicated revolutionaries can lead the movement!”
“Long live the Bundschuh! Long live Eistochter!”
“Take a radical turn with Heissler!”
"Heissler ist superfruchtig!"
“Choose a leader that stands for all of the Bundschuh!”
“Make the Bundschuh a threat again!”
Even their fiercest opponents would have to admit it: Supporters of party leadership candidate Friederich Heissler had come up with an impressive amount of slogans. Standing in front of the Bruchsal mess hall, they were shouting and handing out leaflets and flyers.