Cold War Stand-off

Roy and Ana stood at a stand-off, Makarov pistols pointed at each other, their eyes with the intention to kill. The mess hall had a deathly silence with the fragrance of Lei Mei's cooked meals in the air.

"What's going on here?" Brigham raised his hands in a motion to calm the two down. "Let's not do anything rash."

"She is a Soviet spy!" Roy yelled.

"And he is an American agent!" Ana yelled back.

"Mind elaborating further?" Brigham spoke softy, trying not to agitate them.

"She is ethnically Russian, her family emigrated from the USSR. They brought their communist beliefs with them. They are also one of the leading figures in Nova Occasio's Communist Alliance. A pro-Soviet and pro-communist lobby group advocating for Nova Occasio to join the Warsaw pact. My family warned me about you." Roy said.

Ana smirked and said: "Let's talk about you, shall we? He is African-American, his family is from the United States. They are also prominent members of the Democracy and Transparency NGO on Nova Occasio. It nominally proclaims that it only wishes to advance democracy and press freedom but they advocate for our Dominion to join NATO. They have close ties to the US and the US government paid Roy's tuition fee for Celio's military academy. Check it in Mok's files and see for yourself and don't worry my family warned me about you too."

"To think you commies would stoop so low as to commit terrorism, is that what Moscow barks at you around these days?" Roy tightened his grip on his gun.

"Ha!" Ana remained composed. "Rich coming from you? Washington likes to talk big about human rights but only for its own citizens, the lives of foreign students don't seem to matter. You're the one who is behind all of this!"

"So both of you deny being involved in this attack?" Brigham said.

The two stated their innocence and accused the other of being behind the bombing.

"Both of them deny the act?" Lei Mei spoke for the first time since the explosion, "Yet the two of you are the most likely suspects. If the crime is of a political nature, you two are the most likely to have done it."

"Guys we can settle political differences in other ways." Brigham was unrelenting in his attempts to diffuse the situation. "We still don't have enough evidence. We should wait for Curro's analysis of the shrapnel. Now let's talk this out and put your guns down."

Roy and Ana yelled out almost in unison: "THIS IS NOT JUST POLITICAL, THIS IS PERSONAL!"

Ana said: "Yes my parents are ethnically Russian, you've got that right. They emigrated out of the USSR after the economic crash of 1970. They came to a neutral space colony, but it wasn't Nova Occasio at first, it was the Hope colony. When the Hope colony tried to declare full independence from Earth, well it didn't go as well as it did for Nova Occasio."

Ana continued to talk, her intent to kill still unwavering: "The United States saw the Hope colony as too important to not be beholden to its interests. Hope had a lot of resources crucial to the US, my parents naively believed that a democracy like the US would never bully a new nation in space but it did. The US invaded the Hope colony, and my father fought and died to protect his home."

Ana's voice cracked a little as she said: "My mother was forced to board a refuge spaceship, feeling to Nova Occasio, while pregnant with me. I never got to meet my dad. I never got to meet my father because of people like you. The people of the United States voted and gladly destroyed a life I could have had with my parents over some resources. They chant about laws only when it's convenient. It's the fault of you Americans that he is dead!"

"Can I get a turn to speak," Roy said, he sounded almost unbothered by the story. "Or are you commies allergic to freedom of speech and different opinions?" Ana went silent and allowed him to speak. "Thank you. My parents also didn't first emigrate to Nova Occasio, when the great migrations started after the 1970. crash they chose to settle in the Sutra colony. This colony wasn't fully neutral, its president was on friendly terms with the Soviets and communists but the colony wasn't an official member of the Warsaw pact."

Roy's gaze was laser-focused on Ana, he continued: "When the president of the Sutra colony rejected the Russian demand to join the Warsaw pact, the communists instigated a violent military coup and an overthrow of Sutra's democracy. The people were in a revolt and the communists were in for a full civil war with the rebels. The Soviet Union initiated a brutal blockade of the planet to quell the rebellion. It caused a famine and a living hell."

Roy's eyes boiled with rage. "Can you imagine what it is like to have a baby in these conditions? I don't remember but my parents sure had to endure it. Think about how it feels to watch your friends and family drop dead in the street from malnutrition and starvation. To witness ordinary people turn to cannibalism just to survive. My mother gave birth to me in these conditions and didn't survive the Sutra colony famine. It's frankly a miracle that I am living and breathing in front of you now.

"Only with an intervention from the US did the blockade stop and the two governments agreed on a deal. Those against communism would be able to be escorted by the United States to a place of their choosing or be eligible for a green card. That's how me, my father and the family that survived ended up on Nova Occasio. It was because of people like you. Russians go around oppressing everyone around them. Ask the Romanians, the Czechs, Hungarians, Polish, Ukrainians, and many others what they truly think of the USSR. Their societies don't let them express themselves freely."

Roy centered his aim between Ana's eyes. "It's because of psychopaths like you that go around celebrating this ideology of despair that there is oppression in the world. It transformed the Sutra colony into a totalitarian nightmare where you are told how to think and how to feel and starve to death if you dare oppose them. It's the fault of people like you why my mother is dead!"

Brigham was at a loss for words. There wasn't anything he could think of to say to quell this unbridled rage they had for each other. Roy and Ana were standing in the ship's mess hall maybe a few meters apart, but in actuality a chasm as wide as the Milky Way itself stood between them. A chasm seethed in histories of human misery, despair, injustice, and cruelty.

They were both victims in a game of power between nations, pieces of the board that ended up as collateral damage. At least that's how the ones in charge would view them. They were both out of reach and they were prepared to draw blood in their tales of historic retribution. Mere words wouldn't be able to snap them out of their ecstasy. The two gripped their triggers ready to kill.

"Both of you, guns on the floor right now!" Khalid entered the room unnoticed due to everyone's gaze being fixated on Roy and Ana. "Imma shoot the both of y'all if you don't do exactly as I say and put your guns on the floor." He drew his Makarov pistol and pointed it at them with real intent.

Next to Khalid stood Ljubiša, who was pointing his pistol at them as well. His hands shaking barely being able to hold aim, he yelled out: What he said! Guns on the ground now!"