Video - Keeping Promises

[checksum]

[The video opens on what could be a video game interface - a first-person view looking down from above, a courtyard with Initiative personnel taking a break from their work, enjoying lunch and the outside air, each individual bracketed with HUD reticles as they go about their business, while a variety of status indicators frame the edge of the display. Osprey's voice is heard, calm and professional.]

It has been 32 hours since I issued my demands. There has been no apology from the Initiative, nor has there been any indication that any is forthcoming.

[Osprey's sniper rifle comes into view in the frame, and the display changes, zooming in on one particular table down below, where several men are having lunch. The tracking reticle on one changes color from white to red, and the video of the man discussing the use of the mind control drug displays next to him.]

Colonel Jonathan Landry. The man responsible for the attempted brainwashing attempt.

[The video disappears, and crosshairs appear, centered on the Colonel's head. Then comes the bang, and the man's now headless body tumbles from his seat, before the video cuts to Osprey in front of a non-descript background.]

I repeat my demands. A public apology from the Initiative. Immediate cessation of the drugging. And increased openness and collaboration with the transports in the execution of the campaign against the United Earth. If no apology has been delivered in 24 hours, I will attack a new target, and then again 24 hours after that.

If there has been no apology by the time of my third strike, I will be forced to conclude that the Initiative prefers a state of guerilla warfare, and the pace of attacks will increase. I await your response.

Comments

[noble_nate]

[See, they have facepalms in Thedas, too.]

No, Anders, that is not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that we'd do better to work with them than against them.

[birdhousesoul]

They've violated your mind.

[noble_nate]

And now they're not.

It's not worth starting a war over.

[birdhousesoul]

[Outright disbelief.] You're willing to just ... take this. As if it never happened.

[noble_nate]

I won't forget it happened. And I'm not... forgiving them, not really. But I'll do everything I can to keep a war from starting over this. We're fighting against too many things as it is.

[birdhousesoul]

[Anders scowls ferociously. It's not a very Anders-like expression. Still, no blue gleam in the brown eyes.]

You did not deserve to be hanged.

[Non sequitur? Tangential? Recursive? Anders doesn't evince any sign he's aware the reply is less than linear.]

[noble_nate]

[Nathaniel blinks, caught off guard by what feels like a change of topic]

I completely agree with you on that one.

[A thought occurs to him.]

Though perhaps Justice doesn't agree.

[birdhousesoul]

[Anders looks sort of snarly.]

He hasn't got anything to do with this.

[Riiiiight.]

[noble_nate]

I think he's got quite a bit to do with this.

[birdhousesoul]

And what would you know about Justice?

[noble_nate]

I knew him. He was my friend once upon a time.

[birdhousesoul]

That's right, you used to have all sorts of deep conversations, didn't you. Apparently you didn't learn much from him.

[noble_nate]

What lessons were there to be learned? That anyone who commits a crime should be executed?

[birdhousesoul]

No! That's not — that's not it.

What I've learned from Justice is this: a wrong cannot be ignored or brushed aside, no matter how convenient it might be for the majority. A wrong must be redressed, and at the earliest opportunity, because the longer it's allowed to rankle, the more severe will be the action needed to right it. Think ... think of a pendulum. Think of the way it swings.

[He's almost pleading.] You can't simply let things go. It doesn't work that way. It just gets worse.

[noble_nate]

We have no leadership right now, no organization. All we have is one person using violence to speak for us all. He may go around spouting that this was all his idea and that he'll take responsibility for it alone, but the fact of the matter is that they are going to consider all of us to be like him. And that is not acceptable to me.

We can hold them accountable, we can let them know that their actions were not acceptable, but we cannot simply kill them out of hand. From everything I've seen, they're more scared of us than anything else. My fear is that what has happened will not only start a war between us and them, it will cause a civil war as well. We could get forced into taking sides, and anarchy could easily break out. I will do everything in my power to keep that from happening.

[birdhousesoul]

[Anders shuts his eyes tightly. After a moment's silence, he speaks with effort.]

I can't.

I can't have that faith.

But I wasn't affected by their poison. You were.

[noble_nate]

Even if I hadn't been, I'd still feel this way. I don't want innocent people to get hurt because of one person's actions.

[birdhousesoul]

[That, now, that's a sore point. They've argued this problem of innocents before, though the context was different.]

Then we can't afford to continue this discussion. I'm trying to see your side of this, and then you say something like that ...

I'm shutting this off now, while I can.

[noble_nate]

[There's an audible, and very weary-sounding sigh. He'd never been good at being tactful.]

I'm sorry.

[Knowing he's probably speaking to empty air, he reluctantly shuts the feed off.]