Ravens of Eternity

40 Lessons Learned

During the last few cycles that remained of their time at the academy, the surviving cadets helped try to put the training yard back to the way it was before.

With everyone pitching in, from the sergeants to Commander Riddell himself, things more or less got back to normal. At least, on the surface.

They rounded up all of the drones and put them back into storage, though they tightened down their security and locked down their CPUs as extra added measures.

They certainly didn’t want this to happen again.

All of the debris and wreckage were swept away, melted down, and reprinted. Much of their materials were used to repair the yard itself, though even they weren’t nearly enough for everything.

The two siblings had done billions of credits worth of damage to the yard. Buildings had been torn down to the ground and reduced to little more than piles of dust and stone and metal.

All of the mecha were repaired back to their original strength, however. Well, at least the ones that were repairable in the first place.

All of these tasks blurred into the background for Eva, as she was still reeling from Sunflower’s untimely death. She was very clearly morose, and all the other cadets avoided interacting with her.

Still, the tasks helped her deal with her grief.

.....

It helped all of them untie their hearts.

Their sergeants, doctors, and counselors also helped them grieve and process their trauma appropriately. This was absolutely necessary if they were to continue their careers in the Navy.

Conflict was inevitable, as were casualties. They needed to understand and process the pain of loss the right way. Otherwise, their careers were going to end quickly, and with insurmountable amounts of mental trauma.

They were combatants, and needed to be strong in mind, body, and heart.

Some of the cadets could barely handle what they had just gone through, and realized they wouldn’t be able to handle the emotional challenges they would face in the future. So, with heavy hearts, they left.

Eva was also offered counsel, but she turned them all down. She had always been mentally strong and stable, even in her old life.

Her life had always been bombarded with all manner of downturns and misfortunes. And since she was an antisocial loner, she had dealt with them all by herself. There was nothing she couldn’t endure.

Though Sunflower’s loss was the hardest she had to bear.

~

As the month drew to a close, the base held a funeral for all who had died. This had always been a normal part of training at the academy, as deaths always happened no matter what. Usually the cadets died accidentally. Sometimes it was due to infighting.

This time it was different not just because of the amount of casualties, but because it was an act of aggression.

Commander Riddell stood up on a podium as his staff and officers stood nearby. A little over a thousand cadets stood at attention while in formation in front of him.

He gave some speech about honor and sacrifice, though the first half of it seemed quite canned. The second half was about the synthetics, and he heavily condemned their actions. He even named the Prophets of Gaea publicly, and smeared their name with polite anger.

Eva tuned most of it out. She had never been interested in stuff like that in the first place. All of the pomp and circumstance bothered her greatly. It wasn’t as though she didn’t understand why they needed to do this; people needed to celebrate.

But it still seemed like a huge waste of time to her.

When Riddell was done, he stepped away as one of the sergeants barked orders for everyone to stand at attention and salute. The cadets and officers all snapped their heels in attention and held their salute.

High above them, a Federation cruiser angled its cannons high, and fired seven of them in quick succession. The shots boomed and resounded across the face of Mars. Everyone on the ground felt the shockwave of the blasts. It shook them to the core.

The cruiser then fired each gun twice more after that, and honored the dead with a resounding 21 gun salute. Everyone felt the weight of the moment as they stood with stoic reserve.

Some wept.

Meanwhile, journalists and their cameras were poring over the proceedings as it happened, and broadcasted the funeral throughout federation space for all to see. It made for amazing propaganda, and many hoped it would lead to a surge in military applications.

To the powers-that-be, it was little more than a government-sponsored recruitment ad.

‘Join the Navy, and fight the oppression of terror!’ is what it basically said.

Unfortunately, the broadcast had also acted as a recruitment ad for the Prophets of Gaea as well. They instantly received galaxy-wide infamy. After all, they struck right at the heart of Federation space, in their own back yard! They too would’ve seen a surge in recruits.

This pleased the Chief greatly.

Although the siblings didn’t kill as many as he had hoped, the main goal of getting widespread publicity was achieved. There was only so much he could do if he chased after children to convert, but if people willingly joined his cause...

That allowed him to grow his family and further his cause.

He even realized that he could use these broadcasts to garner even more attention. If he could escalate his attacks, the more the media would turn their attention towards him. The more attention he had, the easier it would be for him to grow his family.

It was a simple formula. He just needed to perfect it.

And it didn’t even matter who reached out to join him, whether they were curious skeptics, true believers, or deep cover agents. His methods would wipe them clean regardless.

Their loyalties would belong to him, and him alone.

~

Soon after the funeral, the yard commenced the graduation ceremony. It was usually filled with much ceremony and cheering, but things were understandably subdued this time around. Those who had top marks were given awards and congratulated.

Everyone was given a commendation for bravery, an incredibly high honor despite the cadets’ relatively low rank.

Afterwards, the cadets were left to their own devices, and allowed them a little time to clean up and pack things away. It was also a good time for various agencies and squadrons to try to recruit as many cadets as they could.

After their graduation ceremony, Sergeants Elyn and Akim spent some time with their cadets at their bunk. Everyone was packing up their things, except for Eva and Chengli, who had come with nothing.

They were joined by a number of recruiters, and things had gotten somewhat livelier. The cadets had become more open again, and were rather welcoming towards the recruiters.

Although they had started out as a full squadron of 50, but by the end were cut down to half. Despite their energy being low, they still tried their best to keep their chins high.

This was due to the sergeants’ efforts in propping them back up. Chengli helped as well, and tried to be a shoulder for many.

A new recruiter entered their bunk. It seemed like Nightraven had the most recruiters with them that cycle. Some were quite confused as to why they got so much attention, but the reality was they were the most outstanding squadron of the entire season.

They had held strong and beat the odds, despite what they had faced throughout Hell Week and the terrorist attack.

Every recruiter had heard about their exploits, and wanted to poach as many as they could for their teams.

Among the recruiters was one that represented an anti-terrorist unit, and he was definitely popular. Not just with Nightraven, but with every other unit that was involved in the fighting.

There were at least a half dozen cadets by his side, asking questions. One of them wasn’t even from Nightraven – they wandered in looking for him!

“I’ll definitely be joining,” said one of the cadets.

That cadet’s callsign was Aurora, and she had light brown hair and soft features, but her training had led her to become physically strong and quite fit.

When she first came, she was soft and weak. She was even one of the cadets who was initially jealous of Eva, though she wasn’t part of the four that attacked her. After she was assigned to learn from her, she grew to accept who Eva was, and eventually even came to like her.

Although she wasn’t a fan of doing drills until she couldn’t stand, she came to realize its importance. Over time, she noticed how those drills had honed her, and the other cadets around her.

They made them much tougher than they thought possible. But she didn’t realize just how critical they were until they got into Hell Week. And when it came time to fight the terrorists, she came to truly appreciate what Eva had drilled into her.

If it wasn’t for Eva, she would probably have died on that battlefield.

By the end, she idolized her greatly.

She saw how much pain the two terrorists had inflicted on her, and wanted revenge in her stead.

“That is, as long as I can put down more of those Prophets of Gaea dogs,” she continued.

The others around her adamantly agreed with what she said. They had been plagued by what had happened so much that they brimmed with the desire to destroy those terrorists.

Their anger fueled their vengeance. It burned as hot as Sol.

But not everyone felt that way.

“We shouldn’t be about revenge, though,” said another cadet.

“Oh, so you’re okay with them doing what they did?”

“No, of course not! I didn’t say they shouldn’t be stopped! Just that revenge shouldn’t be the motivation for you to join.”

“What the hell?” asked yet another. “Aren’t you angry they killed so many of our friends? Wasn’t Claire your best friend? Didn’t she die fighting them?”

“Of course I’m angry! But we can’t just keep killing each other! Revenge begets revenge. They kill one of us, we kill two of them, they kill three of us, and so on. By the end, everyone’s dead! What good is that?”

“She’s right,” said Eva. “All of you are. We need to stop them, but we shouldn’t just wantonly kill them.”

Everyone was shocked at what Eva had said. They thought she would be first to condemn them, burn them all to the ground. They believed she was angrier than all of them, but kept her anger tamped down out of civility.

But spare them? After how deeply she had grieved? They couldn’t reconcile the idea.

“They’re all victims too,” she continued. “Not by the Federation, well maybe a little. But mostly by the leaders of the Prophets of Gaea, whoever they are. They’re the ones we need to remove. Everyone else, we should try to save. I-I have a feeling that those siblings were brainwashed. On a genetic level.”

Eva’s hand curled up into fists as she thought about the two siblings. She didn’t spend the last few cycles simply mourning Sunflower. She also gave serious thought to the siblings, and to the Prophets of Gaea.

She had tried to recall any memories she had of them while they were simple cadets, and analyzed whatever details she could recall. And she had realized that everything about them seemed... programmed.

The cadets fell silent at her words. They muttered among themselves and quietly debated them. If what Eva said was true, that changed everything. If they were also victims, then wasn’t it their duty to save them instead?

But how does one even go about trying to save brainwashed murderers?

“How do you know?” asked the recruiter.

“I don’t know, exactly. But I aim to find out. Those two siblings raised a lot of questions that really need answers. Too many questions, really.”

“So are you gonna join us?” asked Aurora. “This anti-terrorist task force can help us get those answers, and some justice. We’ll take them down... You should even lead us!”

Eva shook her head.

.....

“No,” she said flatly. “I’ll take care of the Prophets of Gaea my own way.”

~

Outrage on outrage! There is not a difference

Easy to settle. He who injures others,

Brings injury on himself; and she who murders,

Pays life for life. Such is the law of Zeus,

And so shall be whilst Zeus retains his power.

Who gives, receives; and one who shuts her door

Against her true and lawful son, goes not

Unpunished. There is a tenacious power

That glues together all things.

– Aeschylus, “Oresteia”