Chapter 63 - Playing the Players (1/2)
At a front line base for the Alterran Alliance near what was formerly western Germany, the military academy cadets and recent graduates stationed here numbered only 50. This base would be considered under capacity since over the past 4 years only 200 cadets completed the military academy curriculum and they were distributed across the 4 main front line bases, but those 200 were all pilots while the rest of the infantry still was at normal capacity. No players were at this base nor had access to it so they didn't need to have any special services setup for them.
Inside the well lit meeting room of the Command Center, 3 generals and their assistants were discussing what they should do about getting the player's involved. The meeting room was a fairly plain room with a long table and 10 brown leather chairs around it. The 3 generals sat towards the head of the table but left that seat open while their assistants stood behind each of them with holoboard and stylus to take down notes.
"We need to get the player's involved!" said a rotund man with gray hair and a mustache wearing a dark blue Alterran Alliance Military uniform adorned with 1 star on each shoulder showing his 1 star general rank. This man is General Jameson Bell, one of the oldest generals left in the Alterran Alliance. It is often joked that he was around for the first Great War between the Alliance and the Hegemony back in 2050.
"We are all in agreement on that General Bell, no need to remind us of this again. The issue we can't agree upon is how to get them involved." A woman reminded General Bell. She was an attractive woman with short black hair, toned body and a heavy French accent who wore a similar dark blue uniform with a skirt instead of slacks and had two stars on each shoulder. This woman was General Elise Bellerose, she turned 50 earlier this year and has been a little sensitive about her age ever since, but she has always been very direct and not one to mince words so she earned the respect of a lot of her colleagues especially after serving as an Army Ranger right before the end of the 21st century.
"Just send me a few hundred of them and I'll train them myself the real way with blood, sweat, tears, and more blood!" General Bell said gleefully while his belly jiggled slightly from laughing.
"We do need to train them, but we have to be careful so they do not defect. We should offer incentives to motivate them and instead treat them more like a mercenary force rather than under our direct control." A man sitting across from General Bell said, this was General David Brian, a four star general and one of only four. He had a fairly handsome complexion and was approaching 70 years of age, but still maintained himself physically despite being a very high rank and not needing to partake in actual battles anymore. He earned his position by being honest, smart, and never giving an order he wouldn't do personally. Some might consider his strong moral integrity to be his downfall, but he has earned a small cult following and he even jokes about himself as being 'The Nicest General in the Army'.
"Nonsense! We do own them! Why back in my day…" General Bell started to carry on theatrically about his 'impressive' achievements that earned him the right to sit with all of the other generals.
"You haven't done squat in 40 years, you were only promoted to a general of the supply division to keep you from causing more harm than good you old windbag!" thought General Bellerose. Sadly the only reason General Bell was still around is because he didn't want to spend all day with his wife and he couldn't afford to leave her, or so he says. Truth is he really does love the military and the Alterran Alliance, but he is starting to go senile with age and his personality easily clashed with others.
"That's quite enough Jameson..." an elderly woman walked in flanked by two assistants as she told General Bell to quiet down. She wore the same uniform as General Bellerose, but hers had 5 stars and gold embroidery on the pauldrons symbolizing her as the commander for the entire army. This was General Lillian Deckard, her face carried a few wrinkles and her hair was gray and cut short, but her eyes still had plenty of life in them. Nobody knew General Lillian's age since she insisted on keeping it a secret, but it was rumored that she was probably around as old as General Jameson due to their familiarity. Unlike the other General's, she also preferred to be addressed by her first name instead of her married name.
General Lillian took a seat at the head of the table and everyone else in the room turned to pay attention to her. "So, Jameson, 3 assistants this time is it? Looks like David guessed correctly..." General Lillian stated then swiped General Brian 10 Alliance Credits.
General Bellerose clicked her tongue then also swiped General Brian 10 credits.
Each general had one assistant present except for General Jameson, he had 3 this time. Due to him going senile, General Bell would often forget if he gave himself an assistant or not for every meeting. Instead of doing the logical thing and writing it down, he would just try to remember it instead. This became a running bet among many of the generals as they would always guess how many assistants General Bell would have with him each time.