What are men to rocks and mountains

The beginning

December 1st, 1944. Button house. There is a war on, and currently Button house is being used for training; alongside a secret operation, an operation that requires only the best and most trusted soldiers. All of whom are currently stationed at the old mansion. Leading this top secret team was The Captain. Hardly anybody knew his real name, and that was a fact that The Captain had no issue with whatsoever. In fact, almost none of the soldiers really were supposed to know each other's names. Of course that hadn't stopped most of the lower ranking officers; being in the army together created a bond that many of the men considered to be close to a familial one.

They say all's fair in love and war, and in the Captain's experience no expression was more true. It was nearing Christmas at Button house. The old and drafty house offering no more comfort to the run-down soldiers as the trenches had their fellow comrades. But, the soldiers stationed at the mansion had tried their best to make the house at least a bit welcoming. None of them had any luck of spending the holidays with their loved ones, but at least they could have the consolation of spending it with each other. And though they hadn't had access to much decorations, they had managed to find a dingy and withered-looking Christmas tree on the outskirts of the Button House property that they had chopped off and was now proudly displayed next to the fireplace in the common room.

Among the soldiers under the all-seeing eye of the Captain, was Lieutenant Havers. One of the Captain's most trusted advisors and confidants. Though the operations at Button House were top secret, the Captain confided in his Lieutenant all the secrets he could not tell anyone else. It delighted him to have someone to confide in, to share his cumbersome task of managing an entire squadron of soldiers in an operation of which they knew nothing at all.

Lieutenant Havers was a scrawny man, barely noticeable in the tiniest of gatherings. Quite literally the opposite of the Captain really, who generally always managed to stand out from the crowd with his commanding presence and his nose in the air. Where the Captain would always be a forceful presence in any room, Havers would always blend in in the shadows. If he wore the brightest colours, he would probably still blend in with the walls. He had the exceptional talent of always being there when you seemed to need him the most. And that is exactly why he and the Captain appeared to be the closest. He was second in command after all. Their troops would always joke about them that they were the literal example of 'Opposites Attract'. Nobody knew the secrets of Button House better than The Captain and Lieutenant Havers.

He and The Captain had been stationed together since the beginning of the war, first meeting in Blackpool, where the Captain had been a trainer for new recruits- and Havers had been a new recruit. Once Germany invaded Poland, and political tensions started rising among European leaders, they got promoted, despite the Captain not officially meeting the requirements for the title of captain yet. It's amazing what desperation and a threat of war will do to the rulebook.

As the years went on, they both got stationed in many cities, leading many troops to the front lines, before landing a site at Button House, where they tasked with creating secret weapons for the naval units that could help win back the shores of Normandy. They had taken their jobs incredibly seriously, but had still needed to maintain their covers of Captain and second in command of a front-line troop. Thus, they continued sending and training soldiers for the front, watching with each load of new and excited young men the groups getting smaller and smaller, and how each squadron returned from the front-line with more and more injuries. That is, the ones that returned at all.

Though they made quite the pair, I suppose every great thing must come to an end. Havers had long since longed for more action, and though the secret operations at Button House were exciting in the sense that it was thrilling espionage work, it was far from the fieldwork that Havers had envisioned when he first came across the posters in London calling for soldiers to 'fight for king and country'. He absolutely honored his king and his country, but what about the fight? He wanted to be among his comrades, fighting on the front-lines. He'd seen the pictures, he knew he couldn't stand by and watch as his commands got more and more innocent soldiers killed.