Price of Neutrality II

Brigham found himself faced with another tough decision, in his heart, he believed that Lupus should engage and stop the neo-Nazis, but the majority of his crew disagreed, 5 against intervention and 3 in favor. While he had never wanted Ovis and Serpens to be abandoned, the rescue was too great of a risk.

If Emidio was to be believed, this would not be a high-risk mission, Lupus had the upper hand when it came to firepower. However, they would be potentially breaking the constitution and Nova Occasio's neutrality, Brigham wasn't sure how much Roy's legal theory would stand up to scrutiny.

Could the captain go against the majority and convince them to do what was 'right'. Was neutrality worth it if it meant you were bound to turn your head away and let the strong torment the weak?

The more Brigham thought about this, the clearer his mind was. The captain knew what the right decision was, he raised his arms and said to his crew:

"While my first priority has always been to minimize our risk, I believe in this case the risk is worth it. We have a moral obligation to help and protect others as future soldiers from tyranny. The constitutional debate we will have to let the courts decide. I can't stand let us stand by and allow people's lives to be ruined when we have the means to stop it. For Ovis and Serpens, we would have directly exposed ourselves to a high likely chance of death. This is different, we are in a strong position here."

Brigham paced around the room and looked into Hitomi's eyes, "I believe that staying neutral in a case of abuse that's right in front of you is tacit support of the abuser. If you don't intervene and you can and are able to, you are accepting that behavior and violence as something that's okay."

Hitomi frowned at Brigham, "This is bordering on emotional manipulation captain."

"I have principles that I stand by," Brigham said stepping closer towards Hitomi, "and I meant them sincerely. Where we can help, we ought to help, it's simple as that."

Curro tucked at Brigham's sleeve, "Captain, you're making a big mistake if we-"

Hitomi clasped her hands, interrupting Curro, "Alright everyone, enough talk! Captain's orders, let's get to our stations and posts! We have an enemy to defeat."

The pink-haired girl hyped up Lupus, it was the first time the girl didn't challenge Brigham's authority and her support gave Brigham's decision legitimacy. Lupus accepted his decision and the crew fell in line, Roy and Ana cheered for this charge into battle.

Everyone ran to their stations and disengaged the AI autopilot, Ana on navigation, Roy on communication, Emidio on propulsion, and Curro on the main computer operating the vessel's weapons. Khalid, Ljubiša, and Lei Mei armed themselves with AK-47s and prepared for a possible boarding skirmish, while Hitomi held a backpack of medicine to help if anyone got injured.

The Lupus vessel turned its direction and started moving towards the Young Aryan ship, which was still chasing the defenseless medical ship. Brigham who sat on the bridge, called out to Roy over the microphone:

"Roy! Scramble a video call to the Young Aryans, I want them to see me!"

"Aye aye," Roy sent the signal as the Lupus vessel got into range for short-distance communication.

Inside the bridge, Brigham received the signal and the enemy captain was displayed on his windshield and vice versa. The captain of the Young Aryan ship was a man in his late 20s and wearing his best Nazi officer cosplay from World War II.

Brigham crossed his legs and said, "This is the captain of the Lupus representing the Dominion of Nova Occasio! Stop what you are doing and surrender, you are violating international and intergalactic law."

"I can't believe this," the Young Aryan laughed, "A kid is talking to me and no less than a first-generation kid. Go back to school and change diapers, this is an adult matter, are you kids on some school trip?"

"This is your last warning," Brigham said firmly clasping his hands together, "surrender or face us in combat."

"Pfft in your dreams kid!" the video call was cut, leaving Brigham to stare at the windshield.

"Emidio!" Brigham yelled out over the radio, "Propulsion full speed ahead, we are going to try to ram them."

"Centering ship, aiming it towards the enemy, entering max propulsion, buckle up this is going to feel heavy!" Emidio responded.

They're going to think we want to ram them when I have something else in store for them, Brigham thought to himself.