Irrevocably Lost In The Twilight

Why was the bird delivered here?

Guiana Space Center, Summer 2020 Kourou

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"Colonel!"

"Colonel Achs! What are you doing here? I thought you were on leave? Is it finished? Have you returned?" He looked at me with his so innocent big blue eyes.

"No, Sir! I'm just passing through. I had to make a delivery."

"What's going on, Colonel? I don't understand." he continued faintly.

"Colonel Hubert salutes you, Sir." While I properly measured these words, I deciphered the emotions on his face.

"Colonel Hubert?" he repeated painfully, and abruptly sat in his seat. "Hmm! He got you!"

"Yes! That's what I thought too!"

"Tell me what happened, please!"

"It was a recovery mission, as usual."

"The rare bird— I've heard. He assigned it to you? And you did it, of course; otherwise you would not be here. And then?"

"And then, instead of returning to France, I was sent here with a Rafale that had fuel problems!" I blew up, almost with anger in my voice.

"A Rafale? What circus is this? Why was the bird delivered here? Where is it now?"

"In front of the door!" I said, grinning.

"The door?"

"The door to your office."

"No, no, no, no. No—" He jumped up, as if heading for the door, but stopped abruptly in front of me. He looked at me strangely. "Come!" he said to me, his left arm around my shoulders, and led me to a large glass door. "An equipped Rafale cost about 70 million, you know, and the fact that you landed it will create more problems for you than if you had crashed into the Atlantic Ocean!"

"I am afraid, the plane ran out of fuel and was unrecoverable without an aircraft carrier."

"I do not know why he cares about this rare bird, but we do not have much time. He will come. You could have ejected. You and her. I know that you would have done everything to save her life, but she would have become aware of your true nature and the plane would have crashed. There was a problem with the F1; the dump did not lock automatically."

"I do not think it was the Rafale. There must be something else."

"Hmm, yes. I do not understand why he brought her here. For some time, I've seen a change in the Army: a formal discipline, supposedly necessary to support our units engaged in foreign conflicts, has gradually replaced the prospective reflection. In fact, this prevents the absurd debate on the reform of defense bases, which breaks the corps of the Army. I have always expressed my point of view; I tried to propose an answer to the fundamental question of the utility, today, of a ground army. This question, never settled, could arise again in the near future and harm this weapon, which our country cannot do without. The control of the maritime space and airspace justifies the existence of a navy and an air force. However mastery of the territorial area of land can no longer justify the existence of the land forces, which are based exclusively in relation to a threat. The era of national wars, the Westphalia era, has allowed us to define a simple framework that has, until now, organized the Army in-depth and was never really challenged. This context formalizes three constants of history: the phenomena of collective violence, the fate of tools dedicated to the practice of such violence and the relationship between political authorities and communal violence. The war as: a unique and collective violence expression. The army as: the only legitimate user of the force and the government as: a unique decision maker's recourse to force. But that context is no longer needed. The collective violence occurs mostly off the field of the state and the constituted armies are no longer the designated players. *"

"Colonel—" I cut him off, somewhat on my nerves.

"I know, I'm going on a bit much, I'll hold the revolutionary speech but there are things that must change! The representatives of the army must change! The entire army must change!"

"I understand, but I do not see what you're up to."

"There is a fraction of the army that is beginning to pull away. A fraction, which is intended to be: reformist and liberating of the old archaic form of management of armies. And I know that Colonel Hubert is one of them. Watch out for him! He knows you very well! Well enough, anyway, because I do not think anyone can say they really know you. I said be careful about what he'll ask you. As of today, be on your guard. I suggest you follow your instincts and do not take sides. Stay out of this. Not because it does not concern you, far from it. But I consider you my only friend and I would not want him using you at the cost of your life. I've never talked like that, and it should surprise you. I've always felt close to you. Attracted, actually. I think I have always admired the courage and spirit of loyalty and justice that animates your every action. Take my advice and do not let yourself be. We will not have another such opportunity. If one day I doubted, as that concerns you—"

"Colonel! He is—"

"Shut up! I know what I'm saying! I will bring you up to date well before the—"

"Colonel Harcourt! What a pleasure to see you! Colonel Achs! I see that my rare bird was released!" he said in a mocking voice. Colonel Hubert appeared unexpectedly. Our heads turned automatically as soon as his voice, deceptively exuberant, reached ours ears.

"And it has all its feathers!" I added while playing his game.

"Yes! Regarding the Rafale— The people involved will be indicted, do not worry!" At present, he stared at Colonel Harcourt, who stood up and crossed his hands behind his back.

"I do not see what you mean," I whispered, eyebrows raised, acting innocent.

"The fuel problem," specified the Colonel Hubert, looking at me.

"Who told you that I had a problem with the fuel?"

"I must have misunderstood then. The report was not about you? Running out of fuel? The crash in the ocean?" His eyes widened gradually.

"I am sorry to disappoint you, but no!" I contradicted him blandly, nodding my head and smiling.

"Ah, good! Then we still have this Rafale?" he asked, annoyed.

"Oh yes! I wanted to watch the sunrise over the ocean and I landed on the beach. Do you mind?"

"Coming from you that is almost a pleasure," he croaked and turned to Colonel Harcourt, who wore a smile.