Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan, year 1

LXXV

Because he's nice, Erk started telling us about their Guyanese adventures. But he didn't start with the garimpeiros. No, he started with a rocket. The Ariane IX rocket, the latest flagship of European aerospace, clearly dominated by France, which is fortunate to have a department located almost at the equator, and thus benefiting from the sling effect of the Earth rotation, which greatly helps rockets to take off. It's all very technical, but let's just say that makes Ariane a super popular and efficient launcher.

In short, Erk told us that in July 2114, barely seven months after joining the Legion, the Hellason brothers found themselves in intensive training in Guyana. It seems that before the US closed its borders, they send units there to train, too...

- At the time, despite our training in Aubagne, our French was fairly approximate. We understood it, read it and wrote it, but speaking it was still a challenge. And yet, we forced ourselves not to use any of the languages ​​we knew.
- Erk, what languages ​​did you know at that time?
- Icelandic, of course, English, German, Italian for Kris, Spanish for me and, who knows why, a few words of Polish.
- Vlad?
- No, we hadn't met Katja and her shadow yet. Anyway, that day, we were training around Kourou, in survival mode, armed with the predecessor of the EMA 7. A canteen, a knife, a gun, that's about all we had. We were forced to go solo, for which the both of us weren't too happy about, you can believe me.

We did believe him.
- Without knowing it, I had approached the Space Center where the first launch of Ariane IX was taking place.
- Wait, interrupted Quenotte, Ariane IX, first launch, July 2114?

Erk confirmed. Quenotte frowned, appearing to think it over and as the giant opened his mouth to continue his story, the redhead silenced him with a gesture which Erk obeyed with a smile.
- Got it! First launch to Mars. Ariane goes to the moon, orbits it, drops her cargo, then relight her rockets to return to earth, partially burning herself in Earth's atmosphere and falling in the Atlantic. Then from the Moon to Mars, they're using special launchers, but that escapes me. Hey, Erk, you almost took part in a major event.
- Almost... yeah, you could say that.
- Erik...
- There is a limitation of five years, Kris.
- Limitation? Just wait a minute...
- Listen, Quenotte, and you will know.

So Mr. Wiki fell silent, his eyebrows raised so much that they got lost in his hairline, and Erk continued, explaining that he could hear a lot of people around him, and motor vehicles.
- I was approaching a path when I heard the noise of a fall, a grunt then a guy, whose call sign was Echo, say in French that he had lost his gun and that he would continue with just his Glock. I had crouched down to hide. Curious, I half-stood up, the guy pointed his gun at me and told me to put my hands on my head. You can imagine that was out of the question. So I stood up fully, my gun held in one hand and pointed at the ground, and saw his eyes move up and up to follow mine... It was funny to see his eyes widen as I stood up.

Kris chuckled, Erk shrugged.
- At the time, I had not finished growing, and I was barely two meters tall.
- How old were you, Erk, that at two meters tall you still hadn't finished growing? asked Tito.
- Eighteen, Kris replied. A baby.
- A beautiful baby, then, Baby Jane said, raising an appreciative eyebrow.
- Anyway, Erk said, clearing his throat, I straighten up, the guy asks me what the hell I'm doing here, what unit I belong to. All that I understood very well. But answering was complicated. I went for something short. I said, "I, Legionnaire. You what?" I had doubts about his unit, seeing as he was dressed like me, with a Glock, no crest. In short, he could have been part of almost any army unit. It was his accent and his language that made me think he was a French soldier. He confirmed it to me by asking me to let him pass. But I was still suspicious. I mean, a third of the globe speaks French...
- That much ? Kitty asked.
- Yes, it's hard to believe, and yet, replied Quenotte.
- Anyways. The guy makes me understand with gestures that I must follow him. At that point, it was easier anyway. I felt that I had put my foot in a fucking mess, but not knowing which side I was on, I told myself that I could help him if he was a "good guy" or thwart his plans if he was a "bad guy". So I follow him. So, we run, going down a smallish hill, and we come to a dirt road. Another, below the one the soldier had met me on.