I woke up to a bright winter morning in the room where I had woken up most my eighteen years. I just had had one of my one in every six weeks off. I lazed around and the had lunch with my parents. After that I got myself ready for my night job and headed out to the metro. In the metro people stared at me as usual. Since this was the age of Aquarius military uniforms were few and far between on the streets of the capital, especially on January 1. I grumbled over the fact the voyage took all of 15-20 minutes from door to door. I especially didn’t like the 200 m between the metro station and Defence HQ. That winter was COLD.

I entered the gate and flipped my ID to the unarmed civilian contractor security guard. I teased him a bit, to distract from the fact that my coat had me down as a Royal Mounted Lifeguard, which was true, sort of, and my jacket claimed that I was in the Signal Corps, which was true, sort of. What I really was, was SS.

- Hi, did you get the flag up on time today?
- I forgot to push the button at 9 exactly ONE time, just one!
- Well, you know, we can’t let the side down. There are three Warsaw Pact embassies within a 500 m radius.

I pulled open the imposing entrance door, well one of the two huge doors. No metal detectors or anything like that. Why bother, the walls were crammed with weapons anyway. Admittedly none younger than 1898 but you can kill someone very effectively with a halberd.

In front of me was man. There were only two men in the country that had that many over-sized stars on his shoulders and I had already come across the other one a couple of times while he still was the heir to the throne. Besides, I also recognized the highest-ranking officer in the defence forces from the Generals’ table in the corner of the canteen. The generals and admiral there got served and didn’t have to stand in the line like the rest of us. Very undemocratic. My own shoulders showed that my efforts had been successful: Private. I had worked very hard for that. The family tradition mandated that no one should have a higher military rank than my mother. She had been promoted to vice-corporal four weeks into her five-week military career in 1944. Not bad for a 17-year-old schoolgirl.

Anyway, the Defence CEO waited, holding up the inner door for me. Quite nice of him. Of course I didn’t salute. I’d never dream of doing that. For two reasons; we were discouraged to annoy the higher ranks (i.e. almost everybody there) and I had already taken off my cap so saluting would have been an insult.

I made my way to the very secret and closed chamber where I usually skulked. One of the most secret places in the building. Of course you let 18-year-old kids handle some of the most secret top secret information in the country. Right? Right! Oh, it was not all Top Secret stuff. Sometimes it was just getting more lightbulbs to our boys in uniform in the Middle East (the girls there might have put on uniforms but I never got that confirmed).

Having slept for a couple of hours at exactly 0100Z I was woken up at and my teammate hit the sack. I brought out the amazingly tasty government furnished sandwiches from the refrigerator, got myself a nice cup of tea. Switched on the TV set and made myself comfortable. By that time I was one of only two people awake in the entire Defence HQ.

As I was sitting there alone in the building (the other person awake was the civilian guard in the doghouse, er, guardhouse). I started to contemplate the meaning of life and all that. I also realised the power I could appropriate if I so wished.

Those thoughts led me to review so many aspects of life (and the meaning thereof). I made a New Year resolution. I also decided to act on that resolution immediately. I rose from the not really that comfortable chair and

and that is how I made my momentous New Year resolution, how I implemented it and how the consequences thereof reverberated for years.

THE END

Oh shoot. Even if the story was posted within the time limits this time, after the censor has been there, there are not words enough to express the lack of words required for the contest. The TG part has been snipped as well. The story has already been removed from the contest!

Foiled, foiled again!