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The rain started at twilight. The twin suns of Solysium shone brightly that morning, but now the sky darkened to the same color as the slate gray of the military administration buildings.  The only people left outside were a few officers rushing about and the engineers hard at work upgrading the Cardinal fleet in the harsh rain. 

Visual slope indicator lights came alive on the runway and illuminated Kaizer in a yellowish glow.  However, the passing officers didn't even notice him standing at the rain-streaked window, his hand pressed against the plasma-plane as his superior reprimanded him from behind the hovering desk.

"Do you know what our purpose is in the Solis Republic?" his commanding officer asked for the second time.

Kaizer had no answer.  He focused his gaze on the Cardinal Ancillia battle mechas gathered in tight formations waiting for the engineers to upgrade them, and beyond those, the officers who passed by him earlier still hurrying about on the flight deck. What's so important that the officers need to rush about in this rain? he wondered.

"Warrant Officer Kaizer Hiraeth, look at me when I'm speaking to you!"

He turned around to face the Commander, not quite meeting his eyes and with his arms behind his back.  This wasn't the first time he was in the Commander's office, but today he was not being commended for his service to the Republic.  Either way, he didn't like this room; it was always too dark for his taste and made him feel slightly uncomfortable.  His commander sat at the end of the table like a stern father analyzing a poor Academis report, but he had no answer for his actions this time.

"Tell me again why you chose to spare the Akarian's life, Hiraeth."  The commander made a swiping motion and the digital files on his desk flickered as they automatically reorganized themselves.  A holo-vid of the event in question materialized over the desk's glass top.

"I don't know, sir.  I made a decision in the heat of the battle, and I have come to appreciate it as the proper choice at the moment."

"Proper! Better yet, appreciate!" scoffed the Commander as the corner of his lips curled into a snarl.  He smashed his overbearing fists on the desk, and it wavered a moment before stabilizing again.  "Let me remind you again, Warrant Officer, that a soldier's duty is not to appreciate or to decide what is proper; it is to follow the orders of their commanding officers unwaveringly and without question.  The Akarian had a weapon.  Your appreciation for this proper choice could have cost Lieutenant Argyle his life. It is lucky he took the shot before the Akarian did.   You were lucky it did not have an anti-mech explosive!"

"Commander, it was an innocent Akarian child.  She did not possess weapons capable of harming our Cardinal Ancillias.  She did not have to die."

"Let me remind you once more of our purpose, Hiraeth," sighed the Commander.  He took his gaze off Kaizer and focused his attention back on the holo-vid in front of him. "Our purpose is to secure the future of humanity and to protect the Mantle of the Republic.  The Akari are a lesser race, a plague upon all humanity, and they would do anything to steal the Mantle from us.  Thus, our eternal duty is to wipe them out before they do the same and exterminate us.  They do not deserve pity or concern from anyone, least of all from us! Our duty is to the Republic and humanity only.  Do not get your priorities confused, Warrant Officer.  Am I clear?"

"Yes, sir.  I understand, Commander."

"Good.  You are dismissed, Hiraeth.

"Yes sir.  Peace and glory be upon the Solis Republic."

"Peace and glory be upon the Solis Republic, Warrant Officer.  Peace and glory be upon us all."

Kaizer clasped his right hand into a fist over his heart, saluted and turned back to the water-stained plasma-plane.  The wandering officers had disappeared now, but the engineers were still hard at work on the flight deck amidst the pouring rain.  He knew the purpose of the Republic.  After all, he had served in the Solis Military Authority for most of his twenty-one-year life, and being a Cardinal Ancillia pilot was in his very blood.  He also knew full well the destructive power of the Akari; they did shatter the moon, which alone was a testament to their power.  However, it was no use explaining the unique circumstances of this situation to the Commander.  There were no words that could describe the sadness in the Akarian girl's eyes as she cried over her mother's limp body.  How could he end her life too when he already took her mother's? 

He was taught that the Akari were a soulless and lesser human subspecies determined to wipe the Solites out.  However, he could not help but feel that the little girl had a gentle soul, and he had crushed it with her mother's death.  Still, it was no use explaining such extraneous thoughts to the Commander; he would neither understand nor care.  Nevertheless, that did not change the fact that Argyle could have chosen to spare her if he truly cared about humanity at all.

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