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Who: Wrath
Broadcast: Video broadcast to the fleet
Action: On the Iskaulit, near Wrath's mural, or later on the Windrose
When: May 30

[Wrath's just finished another part of her mural; it's visible behind her, the rolling fields and the starscape blending together somehow. For those her know her, she seems a bit more sober than normal, more thoughtful, pink hair and all. But this is something she's been thinking about for a while, as she's begun to unwind and consider things in a nominally safer environment.]

Hi everyone. This is lieutenant Wrath, of the Windrose. And...

I think there are a lot of people around like me. Soldiers and former soldiers, I mean. Active duty or discharged with honors or turfed out on medical, it doesn't matter. We were all soldiers and... we still are, maybe, because it's not something that just goes away with the uniform.

I think it would be good for us to talk some time. Just casual stuff. Maybe meet up on the Iskaulit for beer or coffee or hot chocolate for people who can't have alcohol or caffeine. [Like her.] Because... there are things about our lives that no one but us, but people like us, can really understand. And it's important to have someone who understands you, and what it's like to be in the shit, and what it's like to have your squad at your back.

Also, I just finished this phase of my mural, and I think next I want to do something that's for... us. Because we have people we should remember, and things we shouldn't forget. So I'm going to start working on the concept sketches for the next big panel, and I'd like to hear feedback and ideas from my fellow soldiers.

And everyone else, this doesn't mean that you're less special, or the rest of the mural is any less for you, or you're not allowed. I still care about all of you, too.

[But. It's not the same. She's not really sure how to put it, though, so she gives the camera a firm nod, and ends the video.]

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[a pause of a few moments, and a slightly sad smile.]

I think that sounds like a wonderful idea.

Thanks.

...who are you?

[Her tone's not unkind. She's just very direct about things.]

My name is Adelina, I'm assigned to security on the Huntress. It is lovely to make your acquaintance, Wrath.

Nice to meet you, Adelina. I'm on security assignment as well, but on of my crewmen also has security so he takes on a lot of the duties. [The ones she shouldn't do since her back is messed up, and then some.]

I was a lieutenant in the mobile infantry division of my city's army. What was your assignment before this?

It must be good to have assistance.

I commanded an army of knights which currently fight against various threats from nearby monsters. What was your typical assignment?

Nice painting.

[His uncovered eye drifts over to her mural for a moment before turning back to her.]

So, mercenaries count?

[He knows sometimes they don't, depending on who you'd bother talking to. What with their nature of being soldiers for hire, and lacking the sort of national loyalty army-types often espouse and fight to the death for. He knows it. But doesn't mind it particularly.]

He's good at his job. [Highest possible compliment, coming from her.]

Knights, wow. So basically... heavy cavalry, I guess.

Mobile infantry was the vanguard for the Proles Army. Before the bioweapon plague, we were charged with removing heavy armored divisions and gun emplacements. After, we held the Line like all the other divisions, but provided quick strike support during major battles.

Of course mercenaries count. You're loyal to your brother soldiers, right?

[He half-smiles at that, though it's slight.] Against my better judgement sometimes. Never know what side you're going to end up on later, after the job's over. [Though it was hard not to get attached to those you worked with, though he's loathe to admit it.]

That mural is really beautiful. Especially the stars.

[... if there's something he wants to say about soldiers, he can't find the words.]

I don't really know how that goes, I guess. But I did learn--for a lot of reasons--that fights don't have to be personal. So you can be friends after it's done, if you're all alive.

thanks the stars are where i started because that part was for the aliens that were on the iskaulit before we had it since they deserve to be remembered too

True enough.

What sort of unit are you a lieutenant over?

Mobile infantry platoon. We specialized in close combat with heavily armored mobile units and taking out large gun emplacements. High mobility and plasma blades, basically.

What was your last assignment?

[Oh, excellent.

Thanks to some augment malfunctions, Max is not only young, but he's actually a vocal, social person who is more than willing to comment on the network. Bless his heart. The young fella gives the feed a little smile at the mural. Things like this feel less and less common back home, so it's... something.]

That's a great idea. I'm just a cop, and a newer one at that, but it's hard to forget the ones that came before me that didn't make it through the years. Or the boys back home who cover your back. So... guess I can understand that sentiment.

... Don't have active soldiers anymore, though. The wars've already warred.

Before this, I was currently acting as a pilot for the Guardian Force. It's a specialized peacekeeping task force, more or less, maintained by both the Guylos Empire and the Helic Republic after they signed a peace agreement a couple years back. 'Pilot' might have a different definition for you as it does me, though, but if you have plasma blades and heavily armored units, your world seems to have similar technology to ours. In some respects at least.

I think... being a police officer might be similar, depending on how your city runs things. For a long time in Proles, the military was also in charge of administering justice. There's something about being in situations like that. About having squadmates.

[A wry quirk of the lips.] There are always more wars.

I'm from the year 3193, and live on a colony world. Except we've been cut off from Earth for a long time. So when I say mobile infantry, what I mean is soldiers in neural-interfaced light power armor on heavy combat hover cycles with captive plasma generators that are magnetically shaped into melee weapons.

My city didn't have a lot of resources for heavy armoring. So they focused on making us extremely maneuverable.

[Almost two hundred years ahead of him. Interesting.]

As good of tactic as any. I'd choose mobility over pure defense myself.

I can see the people that colonized our planet going in that direction had circumstances been different. But our planet has always had a naturally high amount of metallic minerals and ores to make use of. So we chose to make use of the biomechanical lifeforms that were inhabiting our planet already instead, copying the locals who had already tamed them by the time we arrived. They were heavily armored with metallic exoskeletons naturally thanks to the environment, so we learned how to modify and pilot them. That's basically what our militaries use. You don't see anyone fighting on the front lines without one.

So your ships are alive? [Is she getting that right?]

[It's not that the others on his ship don't know he's been a soldier - he offers that up readily enough if anyone asks - but for some reason he feels easier talking about it in text to someone he's only barely met.]

hey wrath its finn id really like to meet up and talk to other people some times about being a soldier theres a lot thats the same even though theres a lot thats different too i was a soldier for a long time and i still am even though there's not an army or a war or a co or anything its weird how do people know what to do all the time

Wouldn't call most of them "ships" exactly, though there are a few that run as big as those, but close enough.

And they're alive, yeah. We call them zoids. They were the planet's wildlife, more or less. Look like animals but bigger than their flesh and blood counterparts. They're powered by a "core" that acts as the heart of the zoid, more or less. Destroy that, the zoid dies. The rest of it is just metal exoskeleton that we equip and combine with technology so we can interface with them.

They're sentient, in a way—at a very basic level. Kind of hard to explain since they've evolved over the years from how they hundreds of years ago. Best way I could explain it is to imagine your hover cycle was an animal. A large robotic horse, maybe, with a small cockpit with a basic AI and weapons installed. Then it'd be close to the same.

okay finn i'm gonna try to see if i can get a group going or something if enough people are interested because i think it is a good idea to talk like i totally understand the feeling of not knowing what to do because there isn't a mission here and everything is weird and civilians don't make any sense i think it would be good for you to meet winter and tenno at least if i can get them on board they're both kinda shy but they get it we're all in the same troop carrier here

Zoids, then.

How do you interface with them? We did a lot of control on our hover cycles with direct neural interfacing.

I... kind of miss it. Even if it was just a machine, it was really different.

Not if there aren't anymore people left for war, right?

[BUT THAT'S TOO BLEAK, he's not one to stay too bleak]

There are police officers; that's about it, now. And they're woefully over-worked, s'far as I know. They made my branch specifically to fight all the bike gangs and criminal road-ragers on the highways. What's left of the highways, anyway.

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