Welcome to the new colossus

by Bronycommander

Chapter 2 Life in America

Chapter 2: Life in America

Johann’s peaceful sleep was interrupted by a scream, wasting no time to look towards Dinky, who was breathing heavily. “Did you have another nightmare about Deathshead?” He asked the filly, she nodded, trembling.

Without hesitation he gently took her into his arms, carrying her to his bed. With a sigh she fell asleep hugging the teddy bear, her stepfather fell asleep too.

As the morning sun shined into the room, they both stirred in their sleep, yawning and stretching themselves. “Good morning, daddy!” Dinky smiled.

He returned it. “Morning, my dear.” They went into the kitchen for breakfast, Bauer turned the radio on.

“Good morning, Bürger of Roswell! It’s another wonderful morning, with warm temperatures. A friendly reminder, Changeover day is next year, so learn your Germans lessons. And let’s start the day with the Die Käfer - Changeover Day.” The radio speaker said before the song played.

While it sounded strange to Dinky, it was kinda catchy. “What does this changeover day mean?” She asked curiously and a bit confused.

“Well, as far as I know, it is planned to phase out English, making only German legal to use. It even goes as far as changing the American culture, like replacing American food with German food.”

The filly stayed still for what seemed like hours. “That’s…horrible to force people to change like that.”

He patted her. “I know, I know. Reminds me, I wasn’t told where I am supposed to work.” How was he supposed to pay for food, keeping himself and Dinky feed and healthy?

The doorbell tore them out, Johann wondered who could it be so early in the morning as he answered it.

In front of him stood a man in officer uniform, having blond hair and blue eyes, a golden handgun in his holster and a trench coat. “Good morning, can I help you?” Bauer asked polity.

“Yes, I assume you are Johann Bauer?” the officer asked with a neutral expression, the soldier nodded in return. “I’m Erstecommander Jessie Günther, I got informed from General Engel you are in need of a workplace and wanted to offer you one.”

“I would like that but I have none to look after my daughter,” Johann replied, seeing this as a problem.

The officer smiled. “It’s no problem, since it’s your first day, what about taking her with you, showing her your new workplace? I like children.”

“Well, I showed her my workplace in London back then, so I see no problem with that. What do you say, sweetheart?” Bauer asked his daughter who grinned.

“I would love that!” She exclaimed, causing the commander to chuckle.

“I see you raised your daughter well. What’s your name?” He asked, patting her head.

“Dinky Hooves, Mr. Günther.”

“A really nice name that suits you. Now, come along.” He pointed to a VW Bus parked on the road and they all stepped in as he took the wheel.

“Where are we going?” Johann asked curiously.

“To area 52, that’s where the Oberkommando relocated after the destruction of General Strasse’s compound. You would be one of the guards, with me as commanding officer.” The Erstecommander explained as they reached the outskirts of town, Dinky looked out of the window, seeing abandoned convoys and wrecks of American tanks, jeeps, and trucks on junkyards on the side of the highway, showing the sad legacy of the U.S. Army.

“I see. If you don’t mind, do you have a family?” Bauer asked.

“Of course, I have a son. Actually, as you can guess from my first name, I’m German-American. I was born in Dallas, Texas, with my father being a soldier and my mother being a nurse. It pains me to see my birthplace being changed like this.” The officer told with a hint of sadness in his voice.

“If I may ask, how is your son?” Dinky was curious.

“18 years old and a good boy. He wants to do a medical career as I did in both wars.”

“Both wars? You mean you’re a veteran of the Great War too?” Johann asked in disbelief, his eye wide, Günther appeared in his early twenties, it just made no sense.

“Well, I was born 1895, immigrating to Germany at the age of 18. In 1916, at the age of 21, I had an accident with poison gas, it somehow changed my DNA, so I can’t age anymore and I am a bit more resistant against injuries.” Günther explained a bit embarrassed.

“That…That’s incredible!” Dinky exclaimed fascinated.

“I know. As for how I became an officer, I served as medic and sniper in the Great War and as a pilot in the Second World War, from time to time also as infantryman if my skills as sniper and medic were needed. This made me highly decorated, with General Engel suggesting me to join the high-ranking officers. My rank is higher than the normal ones but lower than the Übercommanders, who are highly influential and important, being under the general’s command. I have my own command, my uniform is the same as normal commanders, but in blue like with the Übercommanders, my golden handgun showing my authority.”

“Makes sense,” Bauer replied in awe.

“I couldn’t believe it myself back then. And here we are.”

The filly saw nothing, only sand and desert as far as she could see. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” The commander replied as they came to a fenced area, a large gate opened and Günther drove in, stopping at an underground parking lot. “Welcome to Area 52 where the Oberkommando resides.”

As the filly stepped out of the car, her eyes went wide as she saw what seemed to be a large cargo depot, a crane was lowering a large rocket engine on a train. Overall, it was consisting of a vast, slate-gray expanse, winding walkways leading in all directions, dim light and billowing steam encasing corners of the place in shadow while sets of red lights gave the room little light but shone brightly like the eyes of great demons in the darkness. Hanging from the high ceilings, immense mechanical masses silently churned out the German war machines.

“That looks… amazing!” She exclaimed.

Jessie chuckled. “Indeed it is, a train powered by a rocket engine, on such an idea you have to come first. Just as heads up Johann, standard issue for the infantry has changed since 1960.”

“It’s okay, I get used to it,” Bauer replied as he got led to the armory. The handgun was the same but instead of an Assault Rifle, he was issued an SMG, the MP61, having a 45 Round magazine.

“The MP61 is the replacement for the standard 1960 Assault Rifle for regular soldiers, I wonder why, as an Assault Rifle is way better than an SMG.” The officer explained.

“I guess it’s the production costs and lower importance here.” Johann suspected.

“Yeah, the Assault Rifle is primarily used by Elite soldiers here. Come, I’ll show you around.” Günther said and they followed him into the train.

Inside, the soldiers saluted the commander and greeted the father with his daughter, the two also noticed the Elite soldiers along the regular ones, being heavier armored, having a tag light attached on the right side of their helmets, armed with the Assault Rifle, it had a sleeker design and better heat dispersion compared to the 1960 version.

Dinky and Johann also took notice of soldiers who were larger, having face masks and were armed with Shotguns. “Those are the replacements for the fire troopers, armed with the Schockhammer, an improved version of the Automatic Shotgun, utilizing three barrels.” The Erstecommander explained as they walked to a passenger wagon, the filly also saw soldiers with a strange optical visor in front of their heads.

“That visor looks so strange.” She commented.

“I know, they are our Marksmen, armed with a semi-automatic version of the Assault Rifle. The visor allows them to magnify their vision at longer ranges. Kinda stupid, the AR Marksman was way better than this but since Blazkowicz was on the moon base, production got canceled.” Günther commented.

As they came to what seemed a storage room, the filly saw what seemed to be human-sized robots hanging on the ceiling. “What are those?” She asked curiously.

“Those are ÜberSoldats, replacing the Guard robots in general service in some lower threat regions as the USA, so that they can be redeployed to more important duties in higher priority areas, in particular, the African front. With a skeletal head and a powerful chassis frame, the ÜberSoldat model's main advantage is its incredible speed, and high agility, allowing it to sprint and jump great distances, and even stick to walls. Its main offensive weapons are two powerful blasters attached to its arms but in order to make them agile and fast, ÜberSoldat’s design sacrifices their armor, making them less durable than the Guard Robot.” Jessie explained as they leave the room, coming to an open wagon where a few soldiers patrolled, an ÜberSoldat was standing on the side, his head lowered, his arms hanging, apparently in rest mode.

Dinky took notice of a 1961 Super soldier patrolling the wagon, carrying a pair of weapons rather than just one, looking like a laser gun. It was painted black, and consisted of a metal muzzle likely containing a kind of focusing crystal or lens, and a tough, mechanical stock. The body of the weapon was covered in wires and electrical components, as well as a fluted mechanism similar to a turbine.

“Based what I got told, you already saw the new version of the super soldier. Unlike their slow, lumbering predecessors they are all equipped with a rocket engine mounted on their backs that allows them to rapidly close the distance to an enemy. Instead of an MG, they can be armed with a Lasergewehr, an energy weapon which fires a red laser beam capable of melting metal sheets or vaporizing biomass.

The second weapon is the Dieselgewehr, a flamethrower which utilizes a compressed motor to propel fireballs. Or the Super soldier can be armed with the Hammergewehr, a heavy shotgun.

This came at a high price, however. The armor had to be lowered to accommodate the increased weapon payload and the rocket pack, thus making them less durable in contrast to their predecessors and the fuel tanks on their backs are prone to exploding after being damaged.”

“Can’t tell if this is more a downgrade than an upgrade,” Johann mumbled.

“I ask myself this often too,” Günther replied as he took them into a comfortable cabin.

Due being early morning and still tired, Dinky climbed on one of the seats and closed her eyes, taking a nap, causing the two soldiers to smile.

After fifteen minutes of driving through the endless tunnel, the train arrived at its destination. Günther had his arms on his back as he led his guests out to a large elevator platform.

The filly’s eyes went wide in awe as the elevator moved past a large cave.

Once the elevator reached the top, the group came through a few storage rooms with all kind of machinery, eventually reaching a large room with a big reactor at the end of it. “This is the nuclear reactor of Area 52, the heart of this machinery.” The commander explained.

Dinky was fascinating, seeing two commanders patrolling, both escorted by an attack dog, being a Doberman pinscher. Unlike the attack dogs from 1946 and 1960, they had cybernetic red eyes, but any other cybernetic implants were smoothly concealed with their body harnesses.

A chilling, low-pitched electronic noise started the young pony from behind, turning around in fear.

A large, lumbering, heavily armored robot stood in front of her, his weapons locked on the filly, which trembled.

“She’s harmless.” The Erstecommander said in a calm tone and the robot moved away with a standard pitched noise. “This is the Zitadelle, the successor of the Heavy guard robot, armed with a rocket launcher and a flamethrower, it can be a dangerous foe at all ranges.”

“I see…Kind of a downgrade in firepower compared to the energy weapons of the Guard robots.” Bauer commented on it.

“Yeah, really a downgrade. But let’s show you the rest.”

For the rest of the day, the daughter and father got shown the command center, cafeterias, and recreational areas and so on, it was very interesting for the young child.

In the afternoon, she watched Johann and Günther playing billiard, the officer had some trick shots up his shelve but the Luftwaffe member proved to be an equal opponent.

After the shift was over, Jessie said to them, “Come, I’ll give you a ride home.”

During the ride, the radio played Die Käfer - Mond, Mond, Ja, Ja.

Due to her stay in Germany a year ago, Dinky knew the song already and enjoyed it, it was kinda relaxing.

The sun was already setting as the car arrived in Roswell. “End of the line. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Günther said goodbye.

The young man made dinner for his daughter, then tucked her in. “Goodnight, sweetheart, sleep well.”

Dinky yawned. “Night, daddy.”

As Bauer went into his own bed, he thought about his first day at work.

Jessie seemed like a man he could trust and the day went rather smoothly for him and Dinky, looking good for them so far.

But for how long?