Commander Rory O'Connor (2)

      I remember Sam when she first arrived. She was twelve years old, with dark hair that looked like she had chopped it up with scissors. According to her records, which every new recruit had to bring to enlist, she had a family -- parents and a little brother. She made me think of my wife, Marsha, and my boy, Charlie. Charlie would have been about her brother's age. But her family was not with her.

     "Samantha Jessica Black, is that correct?" I asked her, looking up from her records.
     She looked up at me, her face expressionless. "It's Sam."
     "Sam," I repeated. "Are your parents with you, Sam?"
     She scowled. "No. I thought they didn't need to be. Once you're eleven, you can enlist, right? Once you're eleven you're independent, you can decide things on your own."
     "Well, yes..." It wasn't a law I agreed with.
     "And I get paid as soon as I enlist, right?"
     I frowned. This girl was another that was enlisting simply for the money that was promised. I felt a surge of anger at President Stein, who had passed the law that made children legally independent and able to sign up to train in the military. They'd be killing people soon. No eleven-year-old was old enough to join. There were plenty of jobs available making weapons or screens if she needed money.
     Her scowl deepened when I didn't reply. "I do get paid, don't I? I need the money."
     "Sam." She probably would have walked away were I not the only one that could enlist her. "I understand that the military offers more money than a job working in a factory would, but you need to understand that being a soldier is not just a job. You will be expected to kill people--maybe hundreds in one ship--without a second thought. And people will try to kill you as well, and they show no mercy."
     "Maybe I won't show any, either," Sam replied, but her voice faltered. After a moment, she repeated, "I need the money."
     Why was she so desperate? "You can-"
     "Why are you trying to convince me to leave?" she burst out, suddenly shouting. "I'm independent! I... I'm a patriot! You know what the president's always saying, right? Even a young person can be a patriot! I'm a patriot."

     I couldn't stop her. It was my job to enlist her. I couldn't dissuade all the children from joining the Airforce, because it would get me demoted. I joined the Airforce to try to fix a problem. I knew then, as I know now, that problem is the military and the government using children as soldiers. So I kept an eye on Sam, like the other children. I wanted to make sure these children did not become machines, so I tried to help them. As they rarely saw their relatives, I tried to become a father to all of them. But as there were so many, it was difficult. And Sam was one of the few who never wanted my help. She never accepted my help unless it was a command. She never broke under the pressure of training, of killing people, because I suspect that this is because she had been broken a long time ago.
     But somehow, despite her callous behavior towards me and anyone that she perceived as a threat, she still cared for people. She'd take care of the children that broke down or needed help. Sometimes she'd just talk them out of their fear, and other times she'd do things for them to make their lives easier. Sam is a natural leader, and amassed a large group of friends in the three years that she has been here. But I'm afraid that soon, she is going to lose them, if she hasn't already. Since she took control of that aircraft, she lost the regret in her eyes after hurting someone. And after she killed a young girl in front of her team's eyes, they fear her. Why wouldn't they? During the attack on the training center, she marched up to ten enemy soldiers and slaughtered them all. One of our recruits nearly died in the crossfire. Just like the Board wanted, we created a killing machine. Now, she has her own crew, and adults that will follow her orders. Perhaps they will follow her to their deaths.

Samantha Black (2)

     I don't know what came over me that day. I used to be an ordinary recruit, a scared kid that was determined to look tougher than she actually was. But I changed. Commander O'Connor said that fighting in a war would do that. He warned us about how killing people and fearing for our own lives could warp the central core of who we were. He was right, because now, I'm not afraid of anything, and I'm so tough that killing a person doesn't faze me--I just feel numb. I guess the apathy that comes with the numbness was what the Commander was worried about, but, to be honest, when I stopped feeling anything, I was relieved. Finally, all this weight was off of my shoulders. Finally, I didn't have to be afraid of or feel weighed down by my past. And my past was what I was trying to get away from.

       Why did the Commander keep trying to help me during training, even when I refused? Why did he try to help every recruit? It's almost like Commander O'Connor wanted to keep us soft. I mean, I guess making us care makes us more loyal. He made sure that the recruits were like family, and the first time I killed someone face-to-face was to protect a fellow recruit. But although the Commander seems tough when we're in public, among the recruits, he's a bit soft. With the new focus on the Airforce, why would the Board have someone like that training the new recruits? Maybe they didn't know. 

     Anyway, either way, someone like Commander O'Connor doesn't have any control over me now. I need to stop worrying about why he was--and still is--so concerned. I'm not a recruit anymore; I have my own ship, my own crew, so I don't have to listen to him. I get to be numb, and President Stein gets his campaign-winning, patriotic fighting machine. I'm not listening to him.

President Judson Stein

     Of course I knew that there was going to be a war. That's why the members of the Board of Aerial Warfare elected me as President. We're a small country, and there are a lot of threats out there. In order to keep our people safe, we need to fight. Gone are the days when we could sit and watch our screens or live in our virtual worlds. That is, they're gone until we can prove to the world that this country can defend itself. As my country's leader, I will not stop until my people do not have to fear the attack of a bombing or fire from enemy ships. And if that brings us to war with every country in the world that tries to stop us, we will not give in!
     There will be losses, and these losses may be of civilians. But we cannot live enslaved or in fear! We must fight! We all must fight. That's why my new Independence Law allows people as young as eleven years old to make decisions for themselves and begin training to fight for their country. It isn't mandatory, despite what my opponents may say. They are able to choose to enlist, and they want to. Why? Because even a young person can be a patriot, and these people are patriots! But you must understand why there is a 3-year permanency of service -- if we allowed every person to dabble in the army for a year or two, and then leave, our resources would be wasted. And this is war. We must not waste resources when those resources are what we use to save our country from attack.
     Unlike O'Connor, I celebrate the emergence of young Samantha and her natural gift for flying the aircraft. Her acceptance of the necessity of killing people, even those younger than herself, is admirable. We need young women like her that are brave enough to fight for our cause. That is why I am giving her a promotion: her own aircraft, her own crew. The crew may be in danger due to her techniques to destroy the enemy, but these are losses that we, as a country, must be willing to accept for the good of all.
     Follow me as we soar through this war victorious!

Commander Rory O'Connor

     I knew that there was going to be a war. In the beginning, though, no one expected it. They were too busy invested in their personal lives, their screens and their games. And because we hadn't been attacked, no one was worried. After all, what could harm such an advanced civilization? And if there were attacks, people somehow reasoned, they wouldn't be here.

      But I felt something coming, and I knew. I was a scientist and a sociologist, and I studied the way that the world was moving and knew that we were on the edge of a knife. A war was approaching. Although the people of our country value peace, we are small. There are many countries surrounding us that are larger, more powerful, and we would soon find that they were determined to conquer all the land and air of Earth. Within the past century, the weapons, speed, and defenses of the fighter aircraft have been enhanced. So I signed up for the Airforce, feeling that if there was to be a war, it would be in the sky. And if there was going to be a problem that I might be able to fix, it would also be in the sky.

     It didn't take long for others to notice the countries around us building up their supplies of aircraft and weapons. The Board of Aerial Warfare was established, and they decided to build up our Airforce so we would be able to defend ourselves. As I had been in the Airforce for a few years, and had learned how to fight in the air and on the ground, I was given the position of Commander. My assignment was to train the new recruits, whose numbers were rising slowly, but rising nonetheless. Soon after my promotion, Judson Stein was elected as president, and he decided that there weren't enough people enlisting in the Airforce. So, a year later, he did the unthinkable: he made children his warriors.

Samantha Black

     Wouldn't anyone have done the same if they had been in my situation?

     No? You're probably right. Not everyone would have taken the ship alone, not everyone would have been able to destroy three enemy ships in such a short amount of time. And maybe only certain kinds of people can look a person in the eye and shoot them.

     But they were the enemies. We are at war. Would anyone have done the same if there were no consequences, if they weren't afraid of their conscience, if the only thing that mattered was survival, making sure they came out on top?

     The answer to that question, I'm sure, is yes. I only did what came naturally to protect myself. I never wanted to kill anyone. I never wanted to become someone that everyone feared. But that's what happened.

     I regret nothing.