Chapter 91: Capturing a Fleeing Rat
The award ceremony the Tsar threw for Bruno was rather extravagant, but in the end, Bruno returned to the railways, sleeping in the car that took him back to Saint Petersburg. Quite frankly, such luxurious and regal gatherings were always a matter of supreme social anxiety for the man who had risen to such great heights at such a young age.
It was because of this that he passed out in his seat with a cigarette still lit in the ashtray and his face lying on the table in front of him. Despite everything that had happened, Bruno now held the semi-honorary title of Field Marshal.
At least for the continued duration of the war, Bruno would be acting as a leader of Russian forces and foreign volunteers. But when the Tsar emerged victorious, Bruno's title would revert back to an honorary state. Especially after the man returned to the fatherland and resumed his active-duty status in the German Army.
Though Bruno believed that everything he had been given by the Tsar was excessive, the reality was it was all earned through his merit and efforts. Bruno had played a leading role in the war, ending up in the Tsar's favor.
While his actions in Manchuria had caused the Russian Civil War to start thirteen years early, he had, at the same time, ensured that the house of Romanov and, by extension, the Russian Empire survived it.
He was quite literally the savior of the Russian Empire, and the Tsar had rewarded him appropriately for his efforts. Sure, Bruno had played a critical role in the Russo-Japanese War, insofar as ending it much earlier in the favor of Japan. But that was not one fought for the very survival of the Empire of Japan or the ruling dynasty.
And because of this, Bruno was awarded rather well, considering Emperor Meiji was not nearly as friendly to the foreign powers of Europe as the Tsar was. Tsar Nicholas II was, after all, quite literally the cousin of the Kaiser, and though relations had been strained, no doubt due to Bruno's actions in China and Manchuria prior to the outbreak of the Russian Civil War.
The Kaiser's swift support, both in terms of material and manpower, had proven to be more than enough to mend such wounds. It was only natural that Bruno would be treated so well by the Tsar. And though Bruno didn't know it yet, he would be treated even greater in the future.
When Bruno finally awoke, the train had arrived in Saint Petersburg. He returned to his office, eager for a taste of coffee to help awaken him from his groggy state, only to be bombarded with some critical information about the whereabouts of one of his two remaining targets. After repeated losses over the course of the last year, and the death toll rising as the Red Army and accompanied Bolshevik Party members were routed out and killed in the streets by the Iron Division, Joseph Stalin appeared to have been spotted in the far east.
Specifically, on a train headed to Vladivostok. Vladivostok was a city in the eastern portion of the Empire, quite literally sitting near the border between the Russian Empire and Qing China. It was considered the "Terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway," which was completed only a year prior to 1904.