Afterword: WeaknessCSS LEGEND, GENERAL’S OFFICE (THE NEXT DAY)
“…and that concludes my testimony.”
Bull lowers his head shamefully at the four members of Gactic Congress on his monitor: Benjamin Warren of Regis, Sayaka Shindou of Brelne, Troy Kellian of Tygoss, and Lowell Isham Aziz of Fontem. All of them were members of the Ares Party, and they attended the Regisian general’s hearing at the request of Warren, their leader.
“Despite the best efforts of me and my soldiers, Vice General Star and her Mirror Squad have escaped to the Rebellion,” Bull affirms.
“So…” Warren sneers. “In short, you failed to notice one of your top officers dispyed signs of sedition. You also failed to stop her. You even failed to inform other vessels so they could intercept her before she went off the grid.”
“I’m sure the General did everything he could,” the famous Yamatoan leader, Shindou, said in Bull’s defense. She did owe the General for defending her hometown years ago. “Vice General Star is a cunning officer in her own right, not to mention our strongest Silencer.”
“Exactly! Thanks to Mr. Bull’s ineptitude, Ms. Star could help the Rebellion win this war. The ‘Confederacy’s Champion’ single-handedly destroyed the very democracy he’s supposed to protect!”
Kellian is visibly surprised at Warren’s outburst. While he knew it was just for show, the entrepreneur-turned-politician had never seen his junior coworker dispy any emotion before.
“You’re overreacting, Warren,” Kellian decres professionally. “It’ll take time before Star garners enough trust and authority to have that much of an impact.”
“What about her knowledge of that metaspace route?” Shindou asks.
“Good point, Sayaka. If the Rebellion uses this Northwest Passage and defeats the Scythe, billions of citizens will join their cause.” When he said “Northwest Passage,” everyone tilted their head in confusion at Kellian.
“It’s an ancient Earth metaphor,” Shindou expins on his behalf.
“I assure you, Star will keep the Rebellion in the dark about the ‘Northwest Passage’ as well,” Bull assures.
Warren shakes his head, unconvinced. “The reasoning you gave was circumstantial.”
“Right. We can’t rely on such a flimsy assumption,” Aziz agrees while stroking his beard. “To keep the Confederacy intact, we need to get those coordinates from Star and eliminate the Scythe before the Rebels.”
“And who better for that task than General Bull?” Kellian interjects.
Warren does a double take. “Come again?”
“He knows Star better than anyone and he’s one of the few officers who’s a match for her abilities.”
“Have you been listening, Mr. Kellian?” Warren derides, making the older man glower. “Because of him, the Rebellion has become a much greater threat. How can he be trusted to resolve the mess he caused?”
“Because he caused it.”
Once again, Shindou rushes to Kellian’s defense. “Regardless of what happened, General Bull is still one of the most accomplished soldiers we have. It’d be improper of us to deny him a chance to right this wrong.”
“And I think he’s more than capable of doing so. If not, the most capable,” she finishes.
“Ms. Shindou is right. I support this course of action.” After Aziz voices his approval as well, he, Kellian, Shindou, and Bull all wait with bated breath for Warren to speak.
“We ought to discuss this with the rest of Gactic Congress before anything is made final,” he tells them, intentionally deferring to bureaucracy. “For now, you get that girl, Mr. Bull.”
“Find out where that Northwest Passage is by any means necessary. But if you can’t, execute her.”
“What!?” Bull’s mask of composure finally breaks at those st two words.
“You heard me, she’s a traitor now, and traitors deserve no quarter. The secrets of the dead die with them.”
Warren knew Bull’s patriotic beliefs were his secondary Achilles’ heel. Of course, Valerie Star was his main one, but that’s been taken care of. For a hardened veteran, Bull has a lot of weak spots if one knows where to look.
“Of course, the minutiae will be hammered out once the rest of Congress is made aware of the situation. We still have some post-election affairs to sort out.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Bull notices Shindou tsk discreetly at Warren. She obviously disagreed with his decision but held her tongue, probably out of fear.
“I… understand,” Bull replies.
“If there’s nothing more to say, this meeting is adjourned.” Warren cps his hands together. “I have more pressing matters that require my attention.”
After Warren leaves, everyone but Bull and Shindou hangs up. Seeing how distraught he was, she gazes at him sympathetically through her screen.
“Don’t feel bad, Isaac, it’s not your fault things ended this way. Life’s never been fair to idealists.” The Congresswoman tries her best to comfort him. “So, do the best you can, because that’s more than enough. I wish you luck.”
Finally, Shindou hangs up as well. And for the first time in his life, alone in his dim office, Bull begins to cry.
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