trans_9 | Into the Motherland the Germany Army marched...

Erwin had spent enough time exploring the ship to discover the media library. At first he had spent so much time simply reading books he'd missed or reading new books he'd never seen or heard of before. That had taken time. Then, slowly, his curiosity had turned to visual media. At first he had been amazed and overawed by the pictures produced sixty years in his future - sharp color, focus. Amazing special effects. It all seemed so real to him. His attention had shifted again. His curiosity got the better of him. He began watching old newsreels - German, Russian, American, British - about the war. He'd never worked up the nerve to discover if what Robert had told him about the Jews as true. In a way, he didn't want to know.

Still, he'd eventually reached the end of the war. So he sat, stonefaced, as he watched Germany crumble. When he could, he watched the raw footage. When he couldn't, he watched newsreels. It was depressing in away - to learn how the war would've ended. How the Allies swept over France and the Russians raped and looted their way through Germany. How depressing.

He was watching one of the later German newsreels about Berlin. He sighed softly. Maybe he would never see his homeland again. Maybe that would be for the best. German divided into a communist state and an rump republic? Better then national death, he supposed. He flicked over to another reel of footage. The Battle of Kursk. He hadn't been there, but he'd heard about it. What an utter waste. He leaned forward, watching the black and white footage intently, remembering everything he'd ever done and all that he'd gone through.

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"Why? Why should anyone have to know about what we did? Why should they have to know about the people we killed, about rotting corpses, about building walls out of the forzen corpses of your friends and your enemies so you don't freeze to death from the wind and snow? Why should they know about the villages? Why should they know about the feeling of tanks driving over your foxhole? They don't need to know! They shouldn't know!"

"Because then maybe they'll think twice about going to war! Maybe they'll think twice about sending their young men off to die in some hole in some place thousands of miles from home! So my son doesn't have to go to war and hold his best friends guts in while he's screaming for a medic!"

"It doesn't matter. Do you honestly think that the generals and the politicians care about what the common soldier thinks? They know more then us, they know better then us. Or they should. They ought to. In the end, I just want to forget all of it. I want to forget all of it and go home."

He turned away. "Maybe it's easier for you. You're, what, twenty years away from the war? I just lived it a few months ago. And you never fought the Russians."

"Maybe in Germany you have to go war whenever your Fuhrer says so, but in the United States we have democracy. We don't go to war just because the president wants us to." Robert snapped.

"The Ruskis? Fuck, I don't blame the Ruskis for what they did to Germany. You invaded them, murdered their women and children, killed twenty million civilians. I understand why they'd want a piece of you. You're the ones that woke up the bear." Rob is not, it seems, overly sympathetic.

"No, you hide behind your ocean until someone disturbs you and then you act as if you meant to save the world the whole time!" Erwin rounded on him, jabbing a finger at the older man's chest. "The Russians were a threat to all of Europe! Why don't you understand that? Communism is a threat to everyone! Not just Germany!"

He glared gesturing wildly, "And they attacked our supply line! They shot us down! We had no choice but to retaliate!"

"Don't give me shit about Communism. The Russians and us nearly blew ourselves and the rest of the planet to hell last year over them wanting to put nuclear missiles in Cuba. I know all about the Russians." He lared back.

"And the Japs attacked us. Bombed our people." He resisted the urge to reach out and grab the younger man by the collar.

"You notice that we don't have to murder a whole village because people are shooting us behind the lines. Probably because we're not in the business of conquering other countries, rounding up the undesirables and shooting them out of hand. Or putting them in ghettos or gassing them."

"Good! I hope you and the Russians blow each other to Hell! You both deserve it!" Erwin's voice was almost a yell now. "I did what I was ordered to do! I did what was necessary!"

"You murdered innocent women and children! When is that ever necessary? I thought you said you weren't a Nazi, goddamned Kraut." He yelled back, clenching one fist. "You can't make excuse for what you did!"

"I'm not a Nazi! I'm a soldier! I followed orders!" He jabbed a finger into Rob's chest again, "You would've done the exact same thing! Don't pretend you wouldn't have!"

"Never! I would never do that! I'm a goddamned cop, I help innocent people, I don't murder them. Maybe I would've ended up dead but I'd rather be dead than have a mortal sin like that on my soul!"

"Say that after two of your friends get shot by a damn sniper. Say that when you don't have a choice. Even if I had refused, they just would've found someone else to do it!" He paused, gritting his teeth, "...I've made my peace with God. I just need to make peace with myself."

Into the Motherland the Germany Army marched...

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