Brunner turned his head painfully, faced the older man.
"You are here because this battle will not end the war. This war will
not be the last our people know. Because if someone has to command and
send young people into battle, I want it to be someone who still has
some feeling left.... Because I respect you..... I have no son."
Brunner squeezed his temples with his hands, unable to stop the tears.
"But I CAN'T."
"You can, and you must..... I am not releasing you." Dubcek stalked
out of the room.
The young lieutenant did not return to his post for several hours. The
battle went on without him.
16) P-KR4
P-KR4
17) P x P
N x P
18) KN-K2
R-R4
19) QR-N1
B-K3
20) P-R3
P-Q4
Brunner reentered the battle room with his head down, walking stiffly
to the place where a subordinate stood manning his station. The man
looked up, handed him the lightboard---showing how they had arrived at
the present disposition---and with a quick bow started to leave.
"Wait," said Brunner quietly. The man turned. After an awkward
silence. "How are we doing?" The man looked at him with mild
curiosity.
"As you see."
"That's not what I mean." Their eyes met. "Have we truly engaged the
enemy only when necessary."
"Yes, Lieutenant. But he does have a battle to fight. If I may say
it, the old man has done very well. But here." He pointed again.
"We'll know soon enough." Brunner turned his gaze back to the globe,
and the man was gone.
Lieutenant Olaf Brunner would remember the rest of the battle as bits
and pieces of a vague, impossible dream. Unable to bring himself to
look out the portal at his fighting comrades, he watched the moving
shapes as if entranced, as they swam amid the invisible sea of the
globe. Masaryk's voice.
"Enemy first destroyer group to corridor two, column six."