I couldn't find the Sim City macro so blah

[kill_all_vagans]

[1]

What- no!  No!

NO!  YOU CAN'T DO THIS!

[Flit can be found by a television which has been set to the news... announcing an unprecedented peace negotiation.  Two men are center stage, one the ESUN member Froi Olfenoa, while the other...]

"It is time to set aside the hostilities we have had for countless decades.  I am not blind to the actions of my people, nor the fact that our hardline efforts have done nothing but cost more lives.  It is clear now that for us to survive, there must be change and humility to recognize and repent for our crimes.  And that is why I am here now... in the hopes we can end this tragedy that has already taken far too many lives."

[The other speaker, a man in ridiculous, bizarre clothing, is identified as Fezarl Ezelcant... the leader of the Vagans.]



LIVES YOU TOOK BECAUSE YOU DECIDED TO!  YOU"RE ONLY EVEN DOING THIS BECAUSE WE BEAT THE WULGARU AND YOU LOST YOUR ALLIES!

YOU CAN'T DO THIS!  YOU'RE NOT EVEN GOING TO LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO REGRET IT!

[There's more talk between the two about mending the rifts between Earth and the failed colonization program, but Flit's had more than enough and ends up storming off...]

[2]

[Later, Flit's in the hangar.  Looking over the AGE-1, looking at its accompanying device, looking at the Builder...]

\

The SSR somehow getting the designs was one thing, but if the information is leaked to the Vagans...

Comments

[kill_all_vagans]

[He just shakes his head.]

... The SSR hasn't strapped innocent girls into machines and sent them to try to kill people with. The Vagans have.

[And... he trusts Woolf. And the other nice people in the SSR. Maybe not the group as a whole, but there's enough good eggs there to hopefully keep the bad in check, or at least raise the alarm.]

[keep_your_dignity]

DEPENDING ON YOUR DEFINITION OF INNOCENT, THAT'S ABOUT HALF THE WARS THAT EVER WERE. BUT EVEN THEN, CONSCRIPTING LUCKLESS ASSHOLES AGAINST THEIR WILL AND SENDING THEM TO KILL OR DIE IN THE FRONTLINES IS FAIRLY STANDARD MO FOR SOME OF THE COUNTRIES SPONSORING AND NUDGING THE SSR.

YOU'RE THINKING OF THE DECENT PEOPLE IN THERE. SO AM I. THAT'S MY POINT. THOSE PEOPLE ARE WORKING UNDER A MILITARY STRUCTURE THAT ANSWERS TO PEOPLE THAT MAKE ME LOOK LIKE A BOY SCOUT, ASUNO, AND I'M BLACK OPS. HOW LONG DO YOU EXPECT IT TO BE BEFORE SOMEONE YELLS ENOUGH AND THEY START FIGHTING EACH OTHER, AND WHAT DO YOU EXPECT THAT WAR TO LOOK LIKE.

[kill_all_vagans]

Then we'd just help the people worth helping and stamp out every single person we need to.

[keep_your_dignity]

AH, OF COURSE, I FORGOT. YOUR HELP WILL CERTAINLY MAKE A CIVIL WAR BACKED BY MULTIPLE NEAR-SUPERPOWERS PUSHING IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS GO SWIMMINGLY AND NOT TURN INTO A CONTINENT-WIDE CLUSTERFUCK OF SKIRMISHES IN POPULATED COUNTRIES.

KEEP AN EYE ON THE VAGANS FOR THEIR INEVITABLE BETRAYAL, YES, BUT DON'T FORGET THE TROUBLE THAT'S LIKELY TO COME BEFORE THAT.

[Kagura picks up her box again, the hydraulics of her suit lifting the heavy box like nothing as Kagura turns]

YOU KNOW WHAT ONE OF YOUR PROBLEMS IS, ASUNO? YOU'RE AN IDEALIST. YOU THINK OF PEOPLE AS GOOD. PEOPLE WOULDN'T DO SUCH THINGS, AND THOSE WHO DO, BY DEFINITION, MUST NOT BE PEOPLE. BUT PEOPLE CAN BE ROTTEN. THERE'S NOTHING PARTICULARLY SPECIAL ABOUT THE VAGANS. ANYONE CAN TURN INTO SOMETHING LIKE THEM IF CIRCUMSTANCES HAPPEN TO POINT THAT WAY. INCLUDING YOU.

I FIND IT'S USEFUL TO KEEP THAT PERSPECTIVE IN MIND.