Chapter 1: The War Correspondent

Edna walked up to her apartment, her hands full of groceries. Entering the house, she put them all in the kitchen and flopped down on the sofa, sighing.

Edna Garson was the film critic for the Randordam Chronicle, but although she had learned to enjoy the experience of watching 3 movies a day, she had no training in that department. Her specialization was in war correspondence, but the newspaper did not have an opening in that department.

She had been born in this very city, 33 years ago in 1937, to a middle-class family. Her father, Edward Garson, was a postman and her mother, Anna Colton, was a telephone operator. In 1947, an economic recession occurred, forcing them to leave the small but adequate apartment they lived in and reside in a small shack near the street. Her older sister, Edith, who was 5 years older than her, took care of her as both her parents would be off working. Apart from their regular jobs, they would work at night as well, her mother as a typist and her father as a security guard.

Luckily, it didn’t last forever, and slowly but steadily they regained their economical footing and shifted into a good apartment. Both Edith and Edna graduated from school in 1950 and 1955 respectively. Edith left for the National Military Academy, being appointed to Ground Forces Battalion No. 135 in 1957. Edna pursued journalism, gaining specialization in war correspondence. In 1962, Edward passed away due to a stroke that caused him to fall from a ladder while repairing the roof of the house at the age of 55. This traumatized their mother, Anna, who had been in the kitchen and had seen him fall.

Knowing that their mother would not be able to live in the house any longer, with her consent, the sisters rented the house to a family and bought a new house for Anna to live in.

Edna had applied for a job at the local newspaper, the Randordam Chronicle, but the only opening there was for a job as a film critic. Not wanting to remain unemployed, she took it.

At this point, she’d been working there for about 7 years and had even learned to like her job. She enjoyed watching 2 or 3 movies a day, and then typing her thoughts about them and publishing them.

The phone rang, and she quickly jumped to her feet to answer it.

“Hello? This is Edna Garson, film critic for the Randordam Chronicle. Who’s on the line?”

“Hi, Edna. This is Lucas.”

Lucas was her colleague at the newspaper. He was a very nice man and was quite supportive.

“Oh. Hi, Lucas. I’ll bring the review along in the morning, okay?”

“I know you will. It’s not about that. I have something to ask you.”

“What?”

“Well… you did mention that you had trained as a war correspondent, hadn’t you? That you had always wanted to be one?”

“Yeah, I did. I was pretty good during training. What’re you getting at?”

“I don’t know how to put this straight…”

She rolled her eyes. “The suspense is killing me, Lucas. If it’s related to me, you better spit it out. What is it?”

“There’s an assignment for you. Since the other two war correspondents are off covering the war in Vietnam, we need someone to cover the conflict at the Baldornan-Barbonia border in Gradondam.”

“Are you kidding? Of course, I’ll do it!”

“Don’t you think you should think it over?”

“I did. I’ll do it.”

“But Edna, this is an actual warzone. It’s dangerous. You could die.”

The momentary excitement she had felt upon receiving the news was suddenly replaced by a deep feeling of dread, as she finally realized what exactly she was getting herself into. But she refused to back down like a coward. This was an opportunity that rarely came along. She spoke again, this time her voice much more grave and serious.

“I will do it, Lucas. I will.”

“Very well. You’ve got a four-day holiday to settle your affairs, and then you’ve got to report to the office because we’ve got to brief you on the details. You understand that?”

She nodded, more to reassure herself rather than him. “I do.”

“Well, then, see you later. Goodbye, Edna.”

“Goodbye, Lucas.”

She slowly placed the receiver down, feeling more conflicted than she had ever felt. But regardless, she had taken the decision, and now she was going to go through with it, regardless of her fears.

Then her thoughts turned to her family. How would they react? Edith was in the army, she was the Commander of her battalion. Her mother had already lost her husband, and one of her daughters was out there risking her life every day. How would she react when she realized her other daughter was going there as well, and there was the full possibility that she would be completely left alone in this world?

She remembered that Edith was currently on leave until Saturday. Saturday was four days later, which meant that Edith was most probably being summoned to Gradondam. Deciding that there was no time to be wasted, she picked up the receiver again and dialed her number.

“Hello. This is Edith Garson, Commander of Battalion 143 of the Baldornan Militant Forces. Who’s on the line?”

“Hi, Edith. This is Edna.”

“Edna? Wow, this is a pleasant surprise. How are you?”

“I’m pretty good. What about you?”

“I’m good too.”

Edna decided to just jump straight to the point.

“I have something to tell you.”

“What?”

“Well, you see, Lucas called me just now. He had an assignment for me.”

“Go on.”

“Since the newspaper’s war correspondents are off covering other assignments, they need someone to cover the Gradondam border conflict. He asked me to do it.”

“What did you say?”

She gulped. “I said yes.”

There was a pause on the other end, followed by “Oh boy.”

“Do you know anything about it? They said that they would brief me on it after four days, and we would leave the next day.”

“Of course, I know about it. There are a lot of things going on there. You know about the Civil War going on in Barbonia, don’t you?”

“I do. East Barbonia declared war on West Barbonia, and they’re fighting for dominance.”

“Prime Minister Buckhoff and the Baldornan government under him decided to support the West in the war and sent a lot of troops in there. However, the East is winning, and slowly they’re taking over the country. They’re gaining power too, and their troops are attacking Baldornan through Gradondam. The government is now trying to push it under covers and pretend it isn’t happening because they don’t want anyone to know they sent troops to interfere in the war, which triggered this attack.”

Edna listened intently. So this wasn’t some silly old conflict. “Anything else?”

“Oh yes. They plan to blame the military for sending troops. And the Chronicle is one of the few unbiased newspapers in the country. So you see, your job won’t just be to cover the war. The reason you’re needed is to reveal the truth. And knowing the government, they’ll do anything to silence you and prevent the truth from coming out in public.”

She slowly nodded. “Well, I guess you’re going to tell me that I’m an idiot and get me to call Lucas and tell him I’m not doing it.”

“No.”

She blinked in surprise and asked, “What?”

“No. Currently, we need someone who is new. Someone who won’t back off and will help us to uncover the truth. Because the government has already begun to spread rumors of it, and the anti-military sentiment in the country is increasing severely. You’ll be playing a really important role in this. There is a really high possibility that this becomes a full-blown war. Can you handle all that? I think you can.”

Edna paused. Slowly, the pit of dread was replaced by determination. “I can. And I will. But what about Mom?”

“I’ll bring her to your apartment tomorrow after telling her about it. She’ll probably have things to say to you.”

“Thanks a lot, Edith. I love you.”

She heard a sigh from the other end. “I love you too. I must be crazy to let you do this, but I believe in you. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

The hallway was well-lit and grand, with two chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Many ministers stood there, waiting to meet the Prime Minister of Baldornan, Thalmus Buckhoff. His guard let them into the office, one by one. It was in the House of Ministerial Affairs, itself quite a grand building with cars parked outside in the large parking lot.

In the waiting hall where various people sat, waiting for their turn to see the PM, three people stood in the corner, their hands folded. One of them was leaning on the wall and looking outside through the large window at the city that was visible at a distance. She wore a navy blue military uniform with a name tag on her pocket that read ‘Marjorie Cartwright, General, Baldornan Ground Infantry Forces’. She had high cheekbones, short brown hair which was ruffled, and a hardened face. Her hands were strong, muscular, and rough. She was 46 years old.

Her male companion was a Lieutenant and her husband. They had graduated and operated in the same Battalion for most of their careers. She was at a higher post than him, but yet always consulted him for most matters. His name was Harvey Zeller.

The third person was a young yet strong woman, who was the Deputy General, right under her. She’d been her personal student and had been trained quite well. Her name was Patricia Bancroft. She was 33 and had mentored some students herself.

“What’re you staring at there, Marge?” Harvey asked, tapping her shoulder.

She blinked, roused from her thoughts.

“Nothing. Just the good old city. You okay, Bancroft?”

“I’m alright,” Bancroft replied. “Why are we here anyways? You know this is pointless, he’s just going to dismiss us. He doesn’t care about any of us, all he cares about is his votes.”

“It’s worth a try. If we can settle this somehow, it’ll save us a lot of trouble.”

“If he refuses?”

“Then I’ll go through with what we planned. The Chronicle has a war correspondent available, and they’re willing to publish the truth about the war.”

“You’ll be court-martialled.”

“I’ll be fine. If there’s a war, he won’t dare, because he knows I’m the only one who can handle it and pick up the pieces after him.”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t count on that. The soldiers may rebel if you’re arrested, but he won’t think twice about forcing them to fight by unethical means.”

Marge sighed. “Whatever happens, it’ll happen. We’ll deal with it. Do you trust me or don’t you?”

Bancroft gave a weak smile. “Of course I do.”

“Then bear with me. During this time, we’ve got to stick by each other. Nobody else is going to.”

Harvey placed his hand around her, and she leaned into him, leaning her head on his shoulder. He tenderly kissed her forehead. “It’ll be all right, honey.”

“I hope so.”

The crowd of ministers was still pretty large, so they went and sat down on a bench. The afternoon became evening, and the evening became night. Harvey and Bancroft had gone to sleep. Marge remained awake but lost in thought. Finally, the guard came to them and said, “The Minister will see you now.”

She gently woke up the other two, who became as alert as ever when they entered the office.

It was quite grand and large, with portraits of former Prime Ministers on the walls. At the center, there was a polished brown wooden desk, neatly arranged with files and papers on one side and stamping material and pens on another. There, the Prime Minister sat, a wide smile on his face. He gestured towards the seats in front of his desk.

“Kindly be seated, all of you. I thought you would come to see me, General. I must appreciate your dedication to waiting so long for me, and I know you must have something important to discuss. Sit down.”