0730AM MSK Time - July 12th - 1969 - Soviet Russia - Moscow

Yakovich sits in the passenger seat of a taxi as it drives around Moscow. People on their usual days, soldiers, patrolling buildings, all is as it usually is. But, he did not return for a vacation, nor of his own will, but rather he was told to return. The reason was that there’s currently a massive debate within the party of whether to continue funding for the other world expansion, due to it already being costly to transport men, food, and equipment to the other side. As such, many wish to rather than march through the country militarily, they’ve said rather make the country surrender through promises of the prosperity of a new communist government, making it faster to take control of the entire country, and to as well limit spending.

For Yakovich, this is less than ideal. Not only is this an insult to him, but it also means that he would be replaced with someone else the party finds more favorable, and even Brezhnev seems to agree with this option. For Yakovich, who is a hardcore Leninist, he can’t allow it, thinking that they should be forcibly taken over militarily, to prevent possible rebellion and opposition. For him, he knows it won’t be easy to convince everyone, knowing there'll be many who wish to see him gone. But, there is one way to get the party to agree with him, intimidation. For him, he has many friends in the KGB, most noticeably Yuri Andropov, the current chairman, as such it’s not difficult for them to do favors for him, such as threatening their families. If it worked for others, it’ll work for him.

Another thing is that the new entrance into the new world. He only found out about it the day before he returned to Earth. Apparently, they had found a new way in Kyrgyzstan and was immediately made a base. This new location, while still limited in many cases, allows for more men and equipment to be brought in, but it has brought up more questions than anything. One such question was whether the Americans and their Allies know of its existence, or have one of their own. However, that’s not Yakovich’s concern, as his only concern in an attempt to convince the party to continue militaristic expansion.

As the taxi slowed down to the doors of the large building, he tipped the driver, before getting out and entering. Once inside, he enters the main room of the Party, which reminds him of a college meeting room in some aspects. There are hundreds, if not thousands of chairs in rows, nearly all already being occupied. In the front of the room lies a podium where Brezhnev will be speaking, and behind the podium is hundreds of more chairs, and a statue of Lenin with the soviet banner behind it.

He walked to the seats in front of the statue of Lenin and sat in his seat closest to the statue, and merely waited for the meeting to begin. Even from his seat, he could feel the gazes from those in the rows of seats, while he couldn’t see their faces directly, he knew they were giving him dirty looks.

—

After around an hour of waiting, the meeting commences. Soviet congressmen begin taking seats as the entire room is filled to the brim, which surprised Yakovich, not thinking that many would come given the unpopular opinion in the way the conquest of the other world is going. Eventually, Leonid Brezhnev walks in. As he walked to the main podium in the middle of the room, Yakovich simply stared, internally mocking the Soviet leader. Everyone kept quiet as Brezhnev got up to the podium, and began to speak.

The beginning of the speech was nothing Yakovich found interesting, mainly of domestic affairs first, mainly with continuing riots by the younger generation in Eastern Europe, like Poland and Ukraine. He found such things no longer important to him, due to him not being in Europe since 1962 right after he was made a Lieutenant Colonel. But soon, the topic everyone has been waiting for, the conquest of the other world. He heard many people’s faces turn from boredom to ones of interest.

“As many of you know, the conquest in the other world has been going slowly. While we do have superior technology and manpower, our forces have been slowed down due to improper equipment due to us not being able to send it in quickly enough. As such, this Congress meeting will now commence regarding the other world.”

The beginning of the debate was intense enough. The few that spoke their voices were outspoken on how fruitless it was to wage war against an enemy who couldn’t even fight back. While true that the entire war is pointless in terms of the slow push they’re doing, Yakovich knows the majority of them have never really seen how a war is fought and knows it takes time. Alongside that, while currently they are gaining no positive trade on the conquest, if they industrialize it, it’ll be a great source of profit.

Many of the congressmen though seem to be supportive of the war, mainly with the fact that their enemy seems to be medieval in nature, which means untapped natural resources everywhere, oil, metal, iron, anything they’re running low on could be replenished in just a year of modernization. Not only this, if they can mine any natural resources like that, they can finally boost the Soviet economy back to rival the United States, as it has been lacking for the last few years. But the biggest thing was magic. While not making sense at all, many think that it has massive potential. Not only with magic can they not only do what was once considered the impossible but also possibly turn it into weapons, notably the magic crystals that Yakovich captured.

But, while nearly everyone agrees with the expansion, they don’t agree who’s in charge, Yakovich. They argued that Yakovich was irresponsible, due to them thinking he’s inexperienced, and risky with all of his ideas when it comes to the conquest of the other world.

While true, most of his ideas had big risks, the only reason that they worked was due to his winning factor of having advanced technology compared to their enemy, if they were at the same level when it comes to technology he wouldn’t be in control of the entire conquest. But, even if they were right, he knew from some of their speeches, they don’t seem to hate how long it's taking like he originally thought, and more with Yakovich himself.

Their speeches consist of the same things each time, that he was irresponsible, too risky, and far too inexperienced, though to many it didn’t seem that many paid attention to. But then it was time for Yakovich to speak up, and he grinned slightly. The microphone in front of him turned on, and he began talking.

“I just want to ask a question. How many here have actually seen war in their lifetime?” He asked a simple, but at the same time complex, a question for many of the congressmen. Those he expected to raise their hands raised them, such as war veterans, and generals. But, only around two dozen raised their hands.

“To those who didn’t raise their hands, I want to ask you something. Have you ever seen the bomb drop on a city you were born in? The screams of men, women, children on the streets as the buildings crumbled. I remember. I was only three when the Siege of Stalingrad started. My Father was conscripted a month prior, and we got a letter a week afterward that he was killed when the Germans attacked the town he was assigned to. Then, I was with my mother in a bunker, the only noise coming from the shouts of the occasional Russian, German, and fighting. One day, a German found the bunker me and my Mother were in, he shot her in the back and her body fell on top of mine. I wanted to scream so loudly, as the bullet went right through her and into my leg, but the shock made me disoriented. I couldn't scream. Fortunately, my Mother’s body hid me, and he left. Once I gained composure, I merely walked out of the bunker.”

“Men shouting, women screaming. Children crying, it was the only thing I heard until the planes appeared. Gunshots, screaming, I was just walking down a destroyed street until I was grabbed and brought to safety by a Soviet soldier. I say this so that more children don’t have to go through this ever again, I fight intellectually, not ferociously.

”I fight out there besides my men to expand this great country I live in. I fight, they fight, so that no one else experiences that. We may kill, but only those who wish to kill back. We will rebuild their destroyed homes and show them a new age of prosperity under the Soviet Banner!”

Everyone was still, staring at Yakovich as he just sat there, leaning back against his chair. Then, clapping. It was only one, then two, and it grew as Brezhnev, then the entire room, began clapping. He looked around, seeing his KGB agents standing beside groups of people, and he internally smiled.

—

After a while, Yakovich walks down the hallway of the building, planning to return to his apartment, when Vasil suddenly grabs his shoulder.

“Yakovich! Seems as if you’ll be staying in charge of the whole other world business. Though, I’m honestly surprised you managed to convince everyone.”

“Well, all you have to say is something dramatic, sad, somewhat related to the topic at hand, and you’ll have all of them bending over for you. Plus, having friends in the KGB helps.”

“Ha! Though, I do have to ask, was that story of you being in Stalingrad real?”

“Of course. I’ve told you this two times now. Plus, you were the one that grabbed me when I was on the street and brought me to safety. You were what? Eighteen, seventeen at the time?”

“Ah, shit. I completely forgot. I swear, ever since I've been in my forties, my memory has gotten worse.”

“Well, old age does that, friend. But, one part was fabricated. My father wasn’t killed by the Germans, he was killed by my older brother when he came home from work one day and saw my Father about to beat me after drunkenly beating my mother. My brother was conscripted, and he died in that town.”

“I hope those wounds heal… I know how hard it might be to not be able to talk about such things.”

“It’s fine. But, I’m going back to my apartment for the night, that speech gave me bad memories.”

0200PM SST Time - September 29th - 1942 - Stalingrad - Streets

Gunfire, screaming, tanks rolling down the streets, he’s used to it now. Despite the bleeding from his left leg, he continued to walk down the street, on the verge of tears, but they wouldn't come out. The boy only walked down the streets, not stopping for anything, even the noise of upcoming Germans.

“Hey, kid! Where are you going?!” The shouting of a man had him stop in his tracks. The boy looked to his right where the voice came from and saw a soldier standing in a war-torn shop. Black hair, shaven face, but a blocky head, all stood out to him, but instead of responding, the boy kept walking forward.

“God damn it! Kids these days!” The man jumped out of his cover in the shop and ran towards the boy. He grabbed him by his waist before running back into the shop. He hid behind the shop counter as he held the boy, before noticing the wound on his leg.

“The hell? What did you get into, kid…” The man ripped off the sleeve of a shirt on the ground, before wrapping it around the boy’s wound. As he tended to his wound as much as he could, the noise of a tank stopped him. He peeked over the shop counter and saw the barrel of a Tiger Tank appears, and he immediately pulled his head back down. He looked at the boy and noticed the disoriented look in his eyes, as if he didn't know what’s happening. The man simply put a finger to his lips, before grabbing his M38 Carbine off the ground. He kept quiet as the noise of boots running soon joined the noise of the tank engine running.

“Also, wie viele hast du getötet?”

“Zählen Zivilisten?”

“Ja.”

“Ich schätze ungefähr zwanzig oder so. Sieben sind echte Soldaten.”

While he couldn’t understand what the two German soldiers were saying, he still listened to their conversation. Heck, even if he could understand what they were saying, it’s not like he would care what they’re saying.

Then, an explosion. The tiger tank exploded into fire, catching the Germans off guard. Two T-34’s appear from behind a large pile of rubble, as multiple Red soldiers began running out as well, charging at the Germans. The Tiger, still operational, began opening its machine gun at the incoming Red, shreading them down as the Germans got beside the Tiger. The T-34’s opens fire, exploding the groups of Germns, causing the remaining Germans and the Tiger to begin to back up down the streets in a retreat. It wasn’t a large group, as it was only a scouting party, but the Soviet sneak attack on the group meant they weren’t expecting it. The man watched from behind the shop counter as the Germans backed up. Then as he stood up from the counter, one spots him. He quickly pulled up his Carbine as the German pulled up his rifle, but he pulled the trigger first. The shot from his carbine went through the German’s chest which caused him to fall to the ground. But, this only caused more to notice him.

But before they could react, the T-34’s shots ranged out again, killing the groups of Germans, leaving the Tiger last alieve. It continued to fire its machine gun into the Reds as the T-34’ reloads their main guns. The man still behind the shop counter grabbed a bad beside him, and when he opened it revealed it’s full of grenades. He looked to the boy beside him, and he can see that a bit of life is returning to his eyes, and he seems to be more distressed. The man took a deep sigh, before running out of the shop with the bag, leaving the boy there. He ran to the side of the Tiger, but the gun machine didn’t notice him until the last minute. The gun turned t him, but it didn’t open fire in time as he climbed on the top. He pulled the pin off one of the grenades in the beg before opening the hatch of the Tiger, dropping the bag, and jumping off, running for cover behind rubble. He plugged his ear and counted to three, before the grenades went off, and the Tiger exploded into fire. As he stood from the rubble, Soviet soldiers as well as the two T-34’s storm the area. As he looked around, a Soviet Officer walked up to him. He seemed to be fairly old, old enough to be a veteran of the Great War.

He saluted the officer. “Soldier, what are you doing here? I don’t remember anyone being assigned out here outside of my unit. Unless you deserted…” The officer said.

“No. The group I was with was ambushed by Germans, we were forced to retreat and seperate.”

“Alright… In that case, good job on taking out that Tiger. I’ll be sure to contact your commanding officer about that. Oh, actually, what’s your name, boy?”

“ Vasil Nikitovich. I’m part of the 21st Army. 3rd company. Private. Sir, I must request something. I found a child out in the street, I ask to see if it’s possible to find his parents.”

“A child? Why in the hell would a child-” Suddenly, the screaming of German stopped their conversation. They turned back, and saw a German Officer holding the boy Vasil was talking about, holding a luger to his head as the boy trashed around trying to get out of his grasp. The Red soldiers aimed their rifles at the German Officer, but no one pulled the trigger. As they all stood there, Vasil looked around, before spotting a sniper perched up to one the still standing buildings. He looked back at the boy as he continued to trash, and tried to get his attention. Once he motioned him to calm down, and the boy looked at him as he started to stop trashing, then Vasil motioned him and put his hands over his ears, and he did the same. The German backs up slightly, before suddenly the left shoulder of the German causes him to let the boy fall to the floor as he holds his hands over his ears.

The Officer attempted to lift his Luger up to shoot, before he was gunned down by the Reds. As the body of the German slumped over, the boy stood up and walked over to the nearest one he trusted, which was Vasil.

“Well, thankfully, no one died, at least no one important,” The Officer said, walking up to Vasil and the boy. “Seems as if you weren’t lying about the boy. What’s your name?”

The boy jumped slightly, not expecting he’d have to talk. “I-Ismaylov Mili Yakovich…” The boy said in a mutter.

“Yakovich… Fine name. Vasil, I noticed his wound, there’s a medic down the road, bring him there.”

Vasil nodded before he felt a tug on his pants, he looked down and saw the boy holding onto his pants as he looked up at Vasil.

“Kids… thank God I’m not having any,” Vasil thought to himself. He never thought himself as the Fatherly type, maybe brotherly but even he’s still bad at that. Vasil rubbed the boy’s head, before walking down the street as the boy followed.

As they walked, he noticed grumbling from the boy’s stomach. “Hey, kid. What kind of fruit do you like?” Vasil asked him.

“Mother grew blueberries in the backyard. So, I like blueberries…,” He replied.

“Alright. I’ll go ahead and get you some blueberries then.” Vasil rubbed his head, noticing both their moods improved, as they both walked down the street to a medic tent.