3rd Heavy transit station, Site 8, Region 2: New Bergland, Protectorate of Drestburg

01/27/300 A.C.

0800hrs

The station was filled with people, soldiers and their families giving their last goodbyes. In the distance a young soldier hugs his mother as she gives him his father's treasured weapon. Another hugs his sister and gives her a loving kiss in the forehead.

Yet not all soldiers are men in this country, there are women as well and they too bid what could be their last farewell to their loved ones.

The train blew its horns, screaming an imperative inquiry. "All aboard! All aboard!" Screamed the conductor. And the soldiers double timed to the cars. It started making chugging sounds as it slowly accelerated.

A young man boarded last, he took one final glance at his mother and younger sister. He waved at them keeping a brave face as his mother bursts into tears, while the train moved and gained momentum.

As he sat in his seat, a young girl ran towards his car and yelled: "Alek! Alek!" He turned his head towards the sound and saw a fifteen year old girl running towards his window. She threw a necklace at him and he caught it.

"Alek! Don't die. Please come back in one piece." She yelled. He took a plastic card from his pocket and threw it in her direction for her to catch it.

"Keep the place clean for me Mariya, I'll be back in two tours time. Trust me, my love. You won't regret it!" He screamed as the train disappeared into the tunnels leading towards the surface.

She stopped running and looked At the dark tunnel ahead of her. The walls were made of cobblestone and the end of the station was lit by a single flickering fluorescent tube. A utility worker passed her and saw the light, he made a tsk sound before proceeding his duties. Her fianceé's mother and sister approached her. The sister hugged her as the the utility worker came with a spare tube and a ladder.

"Why? Why'd he have to go? Am I not enough proof! He had me! He's supposed to be exempted from military service according to the law! Why! Why!" She said sobbing as she looked her in the eyes.

"It runs in the family, that's why."

He remarked as he replaced the tube.

She cried with tears overflowing and every drop made a sound of water dropping over marble tile.

"Berthold!!!" The mother scolded.

***

-Region 2: New Bergland, Protectorate of Drestburg

01/27/300 A.C.

1200hrs

Armored Locomotive 18, Car 7

A middle aged man with the bearings of a conductor, enters Car 7 to collect papers. After issuing each with a pass he sighed. Looking at the last passenger, he asked for his papers once more. The young man complied. He looked at his profile and thought 'his father's jaw, nose, cheeks, hair, birthmark and his mother's eyes' as he looked at the other people in the car: barely identical, except for a few minor differences.

"Alek Shizuke Martins, you probably are the youngest so far at sixteen years of age. You were listed as in a relationship, yet signed up despite the national voucher for couples." The conductor said out loud.

" My father was fourteen when he signed up, I was actually a bit tardy." He remarked.

" Your mother was pregnant when your father signed up, you didn't even touch Mariya yesterday. You just doomed the decorated Martins line Alek." A female said in the far side of the car grinning.

" I promised her that I'd return , Anya. If I left her with junior I would've jinxed my chances.

Anyway, I thought you and Dietrich were meant to be forever. What happened to that womanizer?" He inquired.

"He left her for a more erotic partner." Three identical Eighteen year olds jeered.

" Damn it you three!" She shouted as the entire car bursts into laughter.

" In case you people forgot to bring your watches, its ten past twelve. So eat up I know you brought your canteens with you. If you didn't then head to the main car, there's food in there." Said the conductor as he left the car.

All of them opened their canteens, except for one with a birthmark the shape of a lightning bolt strewn across the right portion of his face. He seemed more focused in the act of brandishing and polishing the Luger-like pistol in his hand. A girl who happened to be beside him just ate a piece of bread, when oil from the rug he wiped the weapon with splashed into her face as she ate.

"Do you mind? I'm eating here!" She exclaimed.

"Pardon me, I got carried away." He Apologised.

"What's the use Ryan, they'll just issue you a service rifle once we arrive. And you'd have to buy ammo for that gun."

"My grandfather owned this gun. It saved him, and so did my father. Soon it'll save me Bella."

"Whatever you say mister." Came a cold reply.

In the midst of all of this Alek sat and ate while reading his father's diary. He developed an obsession with his ancestors diaries. Spanning from his ancestor's to his late father. But those little black books weren't just mere day to day entries. They were commentaries and guides contrasting the knowledge of old with the new, providing its bearer with knowledge only a veteran could have.

-beep: "This is the captain speaking, estimated time of arrival is fifteen hours. So please relax while you're at it. Out." The intercom blared at the end of the transmission.

"Captain! When did a train have a captain?"

"This is not your usual transit Mikhail. This is an armored locomotive." Alek stated.

Mikhail finished his meal and proceeded to take a nap.

"Ouch, that's something." Someone sitting ahead of Alek commented.

"Really Francis!" Came a reply.

And the train chugged as it went.