File 8.7 - Eagerness of Destruction

In front of the Command Room, Shizuka stared at the doors. She hesitated for a moment before stepping forward letting them slide open. The memory associated with Aerona’s machine and those unknown machines still easily ran to the surface. However, it was just going to have to be something that she pushed past. She needed to see what it was like, the real thing. On the ground was a terrifying experience, so she wondered if seeing it on a screen would improve things.

“What are you doing here, Petty Officer?” someone to her left said before she even got an unobstructed view of the battle screen. They turned out to be an officer with the Committee members and didn’t like her presence in the room.

Shizuka pulled back a step and looked around the room quickly for any sort of chance. But there was no one that she could call on. She was alone. “I wanted to see the battle.”

“You can watch the recordings after the battle. Leave before I have you reprimanded.”

An annoying voice from in front surfaced. “I gave her authorization to be here, Lieutenant.”

“Doctor…” In response, the General also gave a half hearted approval, mostly just wanting things quiet again in the room. At that point, the man didn’t have anything more that he could really do. His superiors countermanded him. “Sit over there and stay quiet, this is a battle.”

“Thank you, sir!” She saluted politely and quickly made it over to the empty chair. Since the launch orders were given to Ansgar and Aerona, she waited for the signal of the primary objective to start. The stillness in the room painted a clear picture for her of the tension everyone felt. As she had seen before, there was a lot of effort and bets placed on these war machines that HOPE constructed. And they had largely remained unproven machines. All the simulations ran couldn’t hold weight in real combat. Everyone wanted to know if it was worth it.

She just hoped to see some answers about the truth of what was going on. In seeing the machines that they were being forced to pilot in action, she might be able to find more of the truth. It remained elusive for her no matter what tiny pieces she learned. Hopefully, this could change it for her.

“Explosion detected, sir,” the surveillance officer reported. She let the computer finish processing the information to confirm. “One enemy machine destroyed, designated Ormt 3.”

It surprised her to see how calmly they reported on someone dying, just a target on the screen to them. A few of the officers in the room cheered as the tension started to release. Strangely a warmth came across the air as a positive energy from everyone was triggered from the death of one of the enemy. They were pleased and they eagerly looked forward to the next confirmed death.

Reports on the battle came out from the station as the situation was updated. It didn’t take Shizuka long to understand the outcome of the battle. The Njord and Skadi clearly dominated the field. There was no longer any doubt about that. Even the stone walled face of the General cracked a bit of a grin watching the two AESIRs control the field.

Shizuka clenched her hands together watching it as minutes ticked by. The unknown machines continued to take more and more damage, though seemed skilled enough to not be killed. Yet it felt like it was only a matter of time before that happened. She saw where it was heading. No one needed a computer forecast to see it. You would have to be blind or stubborn to see anything else. ‘Why are they still fighting? They know they’ll die. They’ve seen the power against them. Are they so fanatical that they would rather die than surrender?’

It was about all she could stomach from the room. The disgusting happiness and warmth felt so wrong. There was something very off about them. She didn’t understand it at all.