Aeon Legion: Labyrinth (13 page)

Hanns walked into what had
been his office, now newly furnished, as Emmerich sat down in a fine
leather chair. Emmerich smiled as he settled into the chair. “Not
much of an office, Hanns, but I guess it will suffice for now. I
can't believe you worked in this... cell.”

Hanns pulled up a rickety
metal chair and sat. “Well some of us, Emmerich, are far too busy
to worry about comfort.”

“Really, Hanns? I would
hardly guess you busy based on your results.”

“We had setbacks.”

“Yes I read a few of the
reports,” Emmerich said, his tone dismissive. “Some kind of sword
wielding goddess with golden hair.”

“Silver.”

“Whatever. Regardless, you
and your men failed to beat a single woman with a sword. You call
that a setback. I call it pathetic, but that's not why I'm here to
take command though.”

Hanns expression hardened. “I
was told I would have complete control of this project. You have no
jurisdiction here.”

Emmerich smiled and pulled out
a letter before handing it to Hanns. “You have new Orders.”

Hanns took the letter with his
unbroken arm and unfolded it. He read the letter, grimacing.

“Signed by Himmler himself,”
Emmerich said with a smirk. “Your Zeitmacht is under the Waffen SS
now.”

Hanns folded the letter. “Very
well. What are your orders?”

“I want your machine
activated immediately. I want to conduct some trials before our major
expedition.”

Hanns frowned. He didn't need
Emmerich drawing Silverwind here. “I don't think that is wise. We
do not want to cross paths with Silverwind again. Especially not
here.”

“You mean the gold haired
woman?”

“Silver haired, and yes. She
claimed she was from a city in the future that policed time travel.
There was something about a treaty called the Temporal Accords and
she told us we had to register our time travel device.”

“Did you register then?”

Hanns scoffed. “No. Why
should we bow to imperialists regardless of what time they come from?
Those Temporal Accords are probably little better than the Treaty of
Versailles. If only I have could have gotten my hands on that book.”

Emmerich shook his head. “A
book, Hanns? What good is that?”

“A history book could change
everything. Specifically a history book from the future. It would
tell us everything we need to know to win this war. The first time, I
went alone and sneaked into a local library. Silverwind, however,
found me before I could get back. She gave me a warning. After that
we went in force.”

Emmerich
stared at Hanns. “A history book? A history book! You wasted a time
machine on trying to get a history book? You could have at least have
tried to steal weapons
from the future.”

Hanns rolled his eyes. “We
can't use stolen future technology. We have no way to maintain it or
even the infrastructure to build more. By the time we finished
figuring out how it works, the war would be over.”

Emmerich shook his head. “Even
still, taking a book seems like an awful waste of the time machine's
potential. It's a good thing I'm here to take charge. You may be a
brilliant scientist, Hanns, but you lack practicality.”

“Then what would you use it
for then?”

Emmerich stroked his chin.
“Well I wouldn't waste it on finding a book that tells us what we
already know. We will win this war. Everyone knows this. I have
something more important in mind. Something that will allow our
nation to prosper for centuries to come.”

“And what would that be?”

“Why the discovery of our
origins, Hanns. I plan to visit the ancient Aryans themselves.”

Hanns regarded Emmerich with a
flat look. “What? You can't be serious?”

Emmerich beamed. “Yes. We
will see the glorious civilization of the Aryans at their height. The
scientific secrets we will gain from them will likely be invaluable
for our future. We can even take breeding stock back with us to help
strengthen the bloodlines.”

Hanns had to stop himself from
crumpling up the letter in his hand. “You can't tell me you believe
in that eugenics pseudo science?”

Emmerich raised an eyebrow.
“Hanns, I would think you of all people would appreciate our
eugenics program.”

“I have read numerous books
on the subject. It has no real scientific basis. Eugenics is garbage
science.”

Emmerich's face went red as he
stood. “Are you claiming that the entire scientific basis of the
Nazi party is wrong?”

Hanns rubbed his forehead with
his good hand. “Emmerich, you and the SS do not solely define the
Nazi party. There are those of us who choose not to build a political
platform on hate and garbage science. Some of us want to build the
party on more solid foundations.”

Emmerich curled his fists.
“Wake up, Hanns! This is the party and you stand alone in your
fringe beliefs. Now I know you are loyal to our cause so I will
forgive this one transgression. Get your time machine up and running.
I want you to send us to ancient Germany.”

“It will take a few months
to accomplish this,” Hanns said with a straight face. It was a lie,
but he needed more time before they faced Silverwind again.

“And why is that?”

Hanns looked away.
“Calibrations and fine tuning. I am still working on the latest
model. It's larger and more accurate than the others. We can send a
few platoons through with the new model and it charges faster, but it
needs a lot more work before it's ready.”

Emmerich narrowed his gaze on
Hanns. “You are most fortunate that you are the only one who
understands how that infernal thing works. You have two months,
Hanns. Dismissed!”

Hanns stood and left the room.
Finally he could get to the labs. As he walked across the fortress
grounds, his second in command, Alban, joined him.

“Sir,” Alban said as he
walked beside Hanns. He glanced to the SS soldiers in the distance.
“Will this be a problem?”

Hanns grinned and checked to
make sure no SS were in earshot. “No. Emmerich is a fool. I met him
a long time ago at the university. He failed his classes. He got his
position because he knows who to flatter. Our plans will go forward,
albeit with a few minor modifications.”

Alban nodded.

Hanns opened the doors to the
lab, but stopped and turned to Alban. “Alban, keep an eye on the
SS. When we face Silverwind again, make sure they are on the front
lines. No need for our troops to suffer.”

Alban snorted. “They would
barely slow her. They are brutes, not real soldiers.”

Hanns nodded. “If my gamble
pays off, we will be rid of them soon enough.”

As the door shut, sounds of
metal bangs and the bright flashes of welders at work greeted Hanns.
The building's interior held a large open space. Metal catwalks hung
on the interior edge while a massive machine dominated the center of
the room. It stood hoisted by metal scaffolding and girders. He
walked past the huge time machine as the metal groaned like a beast.

It was spacious enough to send
through an entire platoon of panzer tanks. Large concentric rings
lined the outer shell of the machine. The rings alternated between
turning clockwise and counter clockwise, forming a long tube at least
three hundred paces in length. Gear teeth lined the interior of the
rings, like a maw of a monster. A neon green glow emanated from the
hollowed center of the machine with a ramp that led up to it.

Hanns entered a side door into
a smaller lab where his assistant, Lenz, worked. Lenz wore a lab coat
while he operated a machine that put glowing green bullets into their
casings. There a large collection of glowing tipped bullets in a
variety of calibers lay in neat rows.

“Lenz,” Hanns said as
entered the room. “How is our project progressing?”

Lenz stood. “Has Emmerich
taken command? Has he terminated the project yet?”

Hanns crumpled the letter in
his hand and tossed it in the trash as he entered. “Yes he is
technically in command, but the Zeitmacht soldiers are still loyal to
me. Emmerich will not be a threat to our operations for now. More
importantly, have you made progress here?”

Lenz gestured to the large
stockpile of green glowing tipped bullets. “Do we need so many?”

Hanns smiled. “As many as we
can make. We will need them for my gamble. Just be sure to hide them
after you are done. I don't need Emmerich asking too many questions.”

Lenz gestured to Hanns. “Did
you finish your part?”

Hanns smile widened as he
opened right hand, revealing the tiny sphere.

Lenz's eyes went wide. “What
is it?”

Hanns picked up the tiny
sphere with his left hand, holding it as it radiated a green light.
“This, Lenz, is our key to victory. For the war and our future.”

Lenz frowned as he stared at
the small glowing sphere. “But I heard what the other soldiers
said. Didn't that silver haired woman wipe out your platoon by
herself? This is folly. I worry this plan will doom you Hanns.”

Hanns smiled as he looked to
Lenz. “Ah, but everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed.
No one can hurry me down to Hades before my time, but if a man's hour
is come, be he brave or be he coward, there is no escape for him when
he has once been born.”

Lenz stared at Hanns with a
raised brow.

Hanns frowned. “I see you
must have slept through mythological studies, Lenz.”

Lenz shook his head. “Are
you sure about this, Hanns?”

Hanns grinned and held the
small sphere high between his thumb and index finger. The sphere's
glow cast a green light on his face. “No man or woman born, coward
or brave, can shun his destiny. For now, my part is to play
Odysseus.”

There are three kinds of
recruits that commonly appear at the Aevum Academy. The first are the
truly talented. A few of these arrive each year and they rarely make
it past the training. Talent often becomes a crutch for the talented
and they cannot cope with true adversity since, in some situations,
talent cannot substitute for hard work.

-Excerpt
from Chapter Three of the Aeon Legion's
Squire Recruitment Manual
by Praetor Lycus Cerberus

T
he Academy
wasn't what Terra
had expected. As she walked through the hallways she noticed how
clean and polished everything appeared. In fact, the entire area
looked new as though recently constructed. It didn't meet with her
original notion of an aged Academy complete with the musty smell of
old books.

She also noted the heavy
security. Legionnaires stood guard in every corridor with aeon edged
swords at their belts. They watched the other potential recruits with
wary gazes.

The potential recruits wore
varied clothing, though Terra paid little attention to them. She kept
her focus on gaining admittance to the training program and had
awakened early this morning to do so.

She asked several staff there
where to enroll in the Legion training program. Most tried to direct
her to academic enrollment. When she corrected them, insisting it was
the training program, they gave her confused stares before shrugging
and pointing her in the right direction.

Terra found the registration
office where a sizable crowd had gathered near the office fadedoors.
She guessed it was the right place since most of them did not have
silver hair nor wear white like the natives. Those in the crowd
chatted while they waited near the fadedoors. Others sat on nearby
benches next to a shallow indoor channel. A large fountain she had
seen near the entrance fed the channels which branched out in sharp
angles throughout the Academy.

Finally the doors faded and
the hum of conversation hushed. Terra shifted, trying to see ahead. A
silver haired man stepped out of the fadedoors and cupped his hands
over his mouth to project his voice. “First time applicants please
form a line to the left of me! Returning applicants to the right!”

Terra assumed she should go to
the left. She felt awkward when she noticed she stood alone while the
line on the right stretched well past a bend in the hallway.

The silver haired man turned
to Terra. “Well it looks like you're first today. Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Terra said
before entering the room while trying to appear confident.

The room was dim save for a
single spot in the center of the floor. A curved balcony overlooked
the room. Seated in a semi circle on the balcony was a group of
individuals each dressed in the same uniform as Alya though without
the armor. Only one had a full head of silver hair. He sat at the
back of the group, shadows obscuring most of him. The rest sat at the
front with numerous holofaces gathered around them. No one looked at
her as she entered.

A lean man with a long beard
and scarred face gestured to the light in the center of the room.
“Please step into the center light.” He had four locks of silver
in his hair.