General Garza is Done with This
There’s a lot to unpack here.
On the one hand, Garza is in the wrong. First, she is lying. (Though not under oath, technically.) Second - The Republic is a democracy. The military should - ultimately - answer to the elected representatives of the people. Third - It can easily be interpreted that she is covering up here to cover her own ass, not out of a sense of a greater good.
On the other hand, there needs to be a separation between government and the military. We see on Voss in the very same Trooper story the terrible consequences of giving the Senate - and specifically individually Senators - direct command over military forces. Taken to its extreme, you’d have a hundred Senators or military leaders each with their own private armies, vying for supremacy. (This is part of what doomed the Roman Empire.) Its when Churchill said - at the height of the second World War - “the duty of the House of Commons is to sustain the Government or to change the Government, if it cannot change it, it should sustain it. There is no working middle course in war-time.” (Yes, I know Churchill was an antiquated asshole about a LOT of things. Let me talk here.)
Garza has a point that nothing Arnus or the Senate would do at that point could improve the situation. No one is going to say “Oh - We screwed up that thing on Ando Prime. We should learn something from that!” No. They will say “We can’t trust our own military! We should micro-manage them MORE!” or “We should cut their budget!” or “We should surrender to the Sith!” (Possibly all three.) So hanging up on him sells the fact that Garza is a lying, self-serving bitch. It also sells the fact that occasionally, such people are in the right.
Thoughts?