Resurrection (Red vs Blue)

13: Making Contact

13: Making Contact

Present Day: F.A.C. Outpost 37 (The planet Chorus)

Doyle's explanation of what was going on with Chorus was enough to make York's head hurt. Apparently, the whole planet-wide civil war had been going on for years now. And for as much talking as the general had been doing, York hadn't heard a concrete reason as to why the Federal Army and the New Republic were still fighting. He understood the aspect of the different governing styles, but it seemed like that reason had gone out the window. At this point, it seemed like they were fighting because they didn't know what else to do. Most of the current soldiers hadn't even been involved in the war when it was still about the government. As far as they knew now, they were just fighting because they thought they were supposed to hate each other.

York stood on a bridge at the edge of the city, looking out at the mountains that scattered the horizon far off in the distance. Something wasn't adding up here. By all means, the fight should've been over years ago. Even with the people not getting along, he didn't see any reason for them to still be going after each other with guns. And why they called in a highly trained mercenary when things were calming down was beyond him. In his opinion, the move had only made things worse. Both the New Republic and the Federal Army had hired mercs at around the same time. It was almost like they didn't want the fight to be over.

"Perhaps they don't, York," Delta suggested, appearing by his head.

"Hello to you too, D," York mumbled, leaning on the railing of the bridge.

"I'm sorry to have interjected so abruptly," the A.I. said, "but I felt as though I needed to add to your internal musing."

"Of course you did," he commented. "But why wouldn't these people want to stop fighting? They've been going at it for years. Don't you think they'd be sick of it by now?"

"It is unlikely that either side will stop until their way of life is proven wrong. And even then, they still might not ever get along. Especially if they're not open to change."

"What good will it do to not be open to change? If you don't let any change take place, you're never going to get anywhere."

"That's an interesting statement coming from you, Agent York."

"Hey, I've gone through lots of changes. A lot more than I wanted to. And there were a lot of them that I prevented from happening. Or at least I tried to prevent them."

"My point exactly," Delta stated. "You didn't want some of the changes to happen. But they did. It is likely that the people of Chorus have closed themselves off to change because they're scared of what will come after."

"If they're scared of what comes after change, they never should've started fighting," York muttered. "All wars result in change. There's nothing anyone can do about it. If you're not fighting for some sort of change or cause, you shouldn't be fighting at all."

Delta paused for a moment. "There's a soldier heading this way. Coming from your left. Should I log off?"

York looked to the left and saw Locus approaching. "Yeah, log off, D. He doesn't need to see you."

No sooner than Delta disappeared, Locus was practically right next to him. He'd stopped a few feet away, making York feel more than slightly uncomfortable. "Who were you just talking to?"

York looked back out at the mountains. "I don't know what you're talking about. I wasn't talking to anyone."

"Don't lie to me," Locus practically growled. "I could hear you. You were just speaking to someone. So who was it?"