The sudden change of tone in the other man’s voice hit Aldermann like a slap in the face, and for one blinding moment, white hot rage welled within him, and he could see himself pulling the trigger, picture the other man’s skull and brain matter spattering the walls around them before a final muscle twitch from the ODST sent Aldermann himself down into the darkness and to his own final reward once and for all. And would it be such a bad thing, really?
"This dead man used to be like you once," Aldermann managed, through gritted teeth, as he gazed up at the scarred man. Any hint of that wry smile was gone now, replaced with an expression of cold anger and hurt. "Hell, I used to think any man that would, how’d you put it, lose their kid? Yeah, used to think they were worthless - failures of men. Patriot through and through - the service gave me the life I wanted for my wife and my baby girl."
The Insurrectionist shifted his weight slightly as he mentally ran through his options, finding none but to maintain their current position.
"Then April 17th, 2532 happened. You know what happened that day, Trooper? It was another day to you, but it was the day that UNSC troops, murdered thirty-eight people in the middle of a city center’s plaza on Scyllion, because they were listening to a speech. A fucking speech, espousing non-violent protest against the corporations that owned the fucking planet, not a word against the UNSC or the UEG." Aldermann’s voice was commanding, leaving no room for interruption or question - the man intended to say his piece and wouldn’t be interrupted for all the world.
"My wife and daughter, Trooper, weren’t even at that fucking rally. They were passing through the plaza - my wife Michelle and my baby girl Caroline were going to visit friends, but the UNSC didn’t give a fuck. Two more casualties amongst thirty-eight, at a protest that had nothing to do with anti-government sentiment. I held my baby girl, Hoffman, while she died in pain and in fear, and part of me died right there with her." Aldermann’s eyes closed for just a moment, as if he could hear every whisper, every rasping, rattling breath that his daughter took in her final moments of life. And in his mind’s eye, he could see them so very clearly - his wife already dead the moment she’d hit the ground, her beautiful face spattered with the blood from the exit wounds of the bullets that had destroyed her heart. His daughter, lips bloodied with every rasping breath that escaped her small body as she fought to breathe, the way he could hear her breaths grow weaker even as she fought to speak, managed the words "papa it hurts."
"And I saw it again, Hoffman, on Igarus III. ONI operatives from a raid gone bad thanks to the Covenant. They didn’t have a chance to hide their dirty work. The bodies we found in that warehouse didn’t die from plasma fire - bullets really are so very, very distinctive. And I asked myself how many more Michelles, how many more Carolines, had there been? How many more would there be?" Aldermann’s voice rose in pitch and cadence, as his free hand tightened into a fist. "Don’t fucking tell yourself for a moment I enjoyed what I did back there, but when I left the UNSC, when I gathered these people together, I promised them safety - and though I’m going to carry those three with me for the rest of my life, it was them or the children, the women."
"You don’t have to die here today, trooper. And neither do I." He finished coldly, fixing Hoffman’s gaze with his own, brilliant blue eyes alight with determination. "But so long as they get away safely, I’ve got nothing to lose. Pull that trigger, and you die with me, and for nothing - you’ll make me a martyr for the rest of Vergeltung to rally around the memory of. Major Aldermann, the Firebrand, gave his life to save women and children before the UNSCDF cut him down. See the problem, Trooper? Vergeltung’s policy as it is, is one of retaliation - for every loss of ours, we return it to the UNSC tenfold. Take me from them, and I’m sad to say that they won’t just stick to military targets any longer - that’s my policy, and one that causes no small amount of friction amongst our more militant members. I don’t believe in killing civilians, and I don’t enjoy killing ODST, Hoffman, but a soldier hits the field of combat knowing that he might die, and while I hate that I had to be the one to take them from their families, we all have to make decisions we don’t like when it comes to taking one life to save a dozen."
"Your move, trooper. You can blow me away, die with me and doom five, ten, twenty thousand more people to death - I’m being conservative at that. Or we can both lower our weapons and both of us walk away without firing a shot today - I continue on trying to keep my people safe and give them the stability and freedom that the UEG denies them. And you can go back to your baby girl and hold her tight, and thank whatever god you believe in that you’ll likely never have to experience the profound agony that is outliving your own child."
yousharknotpass
romaincrisis
2087
germansingergirl
