Chapter 11 chapter Ten

She sent the poem to other members of the club, along with her final moments.Then she died, flying blindingly across the night sky of Temperance. she is my friend.For a very short time, she was my love.At the moment of facing death, she was braver than me.I bet she must be one of the brightest shooting stars. "The problem with the Colonial Defense Forces isn't that they're not good combat troops, it's that they're just too good to use."

So said Sadrius Bender.He's from Massachusetts, a two-time Democratic congressman; ambassador (at various times) to France, Japan, and the United Nations;He has also worked as an author and public speaker, recently joining D Platoon.It is of course the last item that concerns us most.We all think Congressman, Ambassador, Secretary of State, Private Bender is full of fart. The speed at which a person changes from novice to veteran is astonishing.When we first came to the Modesto, Alan and I were arranged in the dormitories and received a somewhat sloppy but sincere greeting from Lieutenant Keyes (when we told him about Sergeant Ruiz's kind words, , he raised an eyebrow), the rest of the platoon kindly ignored us.Our squad leaders spoke in due course, and our comrades told us what we needed to know.Beyond that, we are completely excluded from the collective.

It's not about us specifically.The other three newcomers, Watson, Gaiman and McKean, received the same reception.This reception revolves around two facts.First, new people come because the previous ones have gone—by "gone" means "dead."Soldiers can be replaced like cogs to the military as a whole.But at the platoon or squad level, you're replacing a friend, a comrade, someone who fought, won, and died.Whoever you are, you are taking the place of a dead friend or comrade, becoming its replacement.For those who knew the dead, this sort of thing is somewhat unpleasant.

Secondly, of course, you haven't even been on the battlefield yet.And before stepping onto the battlefield, you are not one of them.You do not have this ability.This is not your fault, and in any case, this will be corrected quickly.But until you go to the front, you're just a guy taking someone's place, and that guy was once better than you. Immediately after our battle with the Consu was over, I noticed a difference.People started calling me by my first name instead of my last name, inviting me to dinner, asking me to play pool, or dragging me for a chat.My squad leader Vivoros started asking for my opinion on certain things instead of just telling me what to do.Lieutenant Keyes told me a story about Sergeant Ryze that included a hovercraft and a colonist's daughter, and I couldn't believe it was true.In short, I became one of them—one of us.The special procedure of shooting the Consu and the accolades that come with it helped me a lot, but Alan, Gaiman, and McKean fit in nicely with the team as well.They did nothing but fought and survived - and that was enough.

Now, three months later, several more batches of recruits have joined our platoon.Watching them replace their friends gave us an idea of ​​what it was like for the rest of the platoon when we took their place.We've had the same reaction - you're just taking someone's place until you go into battle.Most newcomers understand this and understand it.They survived the first days until they went into battle. Parliamentarians, ambassadors, secretaries of state, Private Bender do not accept this practice at all.From the moment he showed up, he'd been wooing the platoon, visiting each one individually, trying to build a deep personal bond with each other.This practice is nasty. "Looks like he's campaigning," Alain grumbled.This is not an exaggeration.A lifetime of politics does make you such a character that you never know when to keep your mouth shut.

Congressman, Ambassador, Secretary of State, Private Bender has lived his life thinking that people will be very interested in what he has to say, which is why he never shuts up, even when there seems to be no audience at all.So when he rants about the problems of the colonial army in the restaurant, he's really talking to himself.Even so, his remarks greatly irritated Vivoros, who was with me for lunch. "Sorry," she said, "would you mind saying that last little part again?" "I said, I don't think the problem with the colonial armies is that they weren't good armies, but that they were just too easy to use," repeated Bender.

"Really," said Vivoros, "I must hear that." "It's simple, really," Bender said, shifting his position, and I immediately recognized it as exactly the same as a photo of him in the Earth days - outstretched hands, slightly bent inward, as if trying to grab him The idea being explained so that it can be communicated to others.Only after being at the receiving end of the action did I realize how condescending it was. "There is no question that the Colonial Defense Forces are a very capable military force. But the question is what have we done to avoid the use of the Colonial Army? In some cases where the Army is used, would deep diplomacy have been better achieved? What about the effect?"

"You must have missed a speech I heard," I said, "you know, the one about the imperfect universe and the competition for real estate in the universe." "Oh, I've heard that," Bender said, "I just don't believe it. How many stars are there in this galaxy? A hundred billion or so. Most of the stars have planetary systems and things like that. The estate is practically infinite Endless. Here, I think the real question is: When we deal with other intelligent beings, force is the easiest way, and that's why we use force. It's quick and direct, compared to other complex diplomatic means It’s simpler. With the use of force, you either take a piece of land or you don’t. But diplomacy is a much more intellectually demanding tool.” Vivoros glanced at me, then turned to Bender and said, "You think what we're doing is simple?" "No, it's not." Bender smiled and stretched out a hand in a soothing manner, "What I call simplicity is relative to diplomacy. If I give you a gun and let you knock a mountain from the mountain This kind of thing is relatively simple. But if I ask you to reach an agreement with the mountain people to allow you to get the mountain, then you need to do a lot of things: how to resettle the existing residents, they will get What compensation, what rights do they have to the mountain, and so on." "Then you have to first assume that the mountain folk don't shoot you when you drop by with your diplomatic bags," I said. Bender smiled at me and pointed his fingers firmly, "Look, that's the problem. We assume that our opponents are just as belligerent as we are. But if—if—the door to diplomacy opens, even if only Open a crack, what? Couldn't an intelligent species decide to walk through that door? Take the Vaders for example. We're going to make war on them, right?" indeed so.The Vaders and humans have been wrestling for more than ten years, using force to fight for the Ernhard galaxy, where there are three habitable planets.Galaxies with multiple habitable planets are very rare.The Vaders are tenacious, but also relatively fragile; their planetary spread is small, and most of their industry is still concentrated on their home planet.Since the Vaders are unwilling to accept our hints to stay away from the Earnhard galaxy, we plan to jump into the Vaders' space, destroy their spaceports and major industrial areas, and set their expansion capabilities back to decades ago.The 233rd Battalion is one of the task forces planning to land on its capital and destroy it, we will try not to kill civilians as much as possible, but do some sabotage in its houses, religious congregation centers, etc.This will not negatively affect their industry, but it will send a message that we can mess with them whenever we want.This approach can shake their resolve. "What happened to them?" Vivoros asked. "Well, I did a little research on these people," Bender said. "You know what, they had a remarkable culture. Their highest art form was choral singing like the Georgian era. They would make The Vaders gathered in the entire city, and then began to sing hymns. It is said that you can hear their singing tens of kilometers away, and the chorus can last for hours." "so?" "So, this is a culture that we should celebrate and explore, not confine it to its home planet just because the Vaders are in our way. Did the colonists even try to get along with these What about people keeping the peace? I don’t see a record of that. I think we should try it. Maybe we can try it.” Vivoros snorted, "Negotiating a ceasefire agreement is a bit beyond the scope of our orders, Bender." "During my first term as an MP, I was part of a government-funded mission to Northern Ireland that resulted in a peace deal between Catholics and Protestants. I had no right to make a deal, and there was an explosion in the United States. There was an uproar. However, as long as there is an opportunity for peace, we must seize it." Bender said. "I remember that," I said, "and what followed was the bloodiest in two centuries. It wasn't a very successful peace deal." “It’s not the protocol’s fault,” Bender said, a little defensively. “A drugged-up Catholic kid threw a grenade into the parade, and it was all over.” "Real-life people be damned for destroying your ideal of peace," I said. "Well, as I said, diplomacy is not easy," Bender said, "but I think that instead of trying to root out these people, I think we'd be better off trying to work with them in the end. It's an option that at least It should be on our agenda." "Thank you for your point of view, Bender." Vivoros said, "Well, if you are willing to give up the podium, I would like to make two opinions. First, before you go to the battlefield, for me and everyone , everything you know and think you know is bullshit. This isn't Northern Ireland, it's not Washington DC, it's not Earth. When you enlist, you enlist as a soldier and you better remember that One point. Second, whatever you think, Private, your duty at this moment is not to the universe and all of humanity—it's to me, to your comrades, to your platoon, and to the Colonial Army. Go on When the order comes, you must do it. If you cross the line, you have to explain it to me. Do you understand?" Bender watched Vivoros calmly. "There has been a lot of crime under the pretense of 'acting on orders,'" he said. "May we never find ourselves using the same pretense." Vivoros' eyes narrowed into a narrow slit, "I'm done," she said, standing up with the tray in hand. Bender raised an eyebrow as she left. "I didn't mean to offend her," he told me. I looked at Bender carefully, "Do you still remember the name 'Vivoros', Bender?" I asked. He frowned. "Not too familiar," he said. "Think about a long time ago," I said. "We were about five or six years old." He got the idea. "There was a Peruvian president named Vivoros. He was murdered, I think." "Pedro Vivoros, yes," I said, "not only him, but his wife, brother, brother's wife, and most of the family were killed in a military coup. Only one of Pedro's daughters survived. When soldiers searched the presidential palace for her family, her nanny stuffed her into the chute leading to the laundry room. They raped the nanny and cut her open. her throat." Bender's face was pale. "She can't be that daughter," he said. "Exactly," I said, "you know, when the coup was overthrown and the soldiers who killed her family were put on trial on the grounds that they were just following orders. So whatever you just pointed out is correct Or not, your cliché about evil was delivered in front of the worst person in the universe to be preached to. She knew it all. That excuse killed her whole family, and she was hiding out in the basement In the dirty clothes basket, there was blood, and I tried my best not to cry." "My God, I'm so sorry, my God," Bender said. "I shouldn't have said anything. But I don't know." "Of course you don't, Bender," I said. "That's exactly what Vivoros thinks. You don't know anything about the outside world. You don't know anything." "Listen," Vivoros said during the descent, "our mission is strictly limited to sabotage. We're going to land in the heart of their government facility, destroy buildings and structures, but avoid shooting at living targets unless they Target the colonial soldiers. We've kicked these guys in the crotch, now all we have to do is piss on their heads while they're crouching on the ground. Hurry up and do the damage Just come back. Do you understand everything?" So far, the operation has felt like a leisurely walk.More than 20 colonial warships suddenly appeared in the space where the Vaders' home planet was located, and they were unprepared.A few days ago, the colonial army launched an attack on the Earnhard galaxy to divert attention. The spaceship of the Vaders was attracted to support that battle. The few ships were soon completely destroyed by the sudden blow. Our destroyers also quickly cleaned up the main spaceport of the Vaders, blowing up the main connection part of this several-kilometer-long building, causing the spaceport to be torn apart by its own centripetal force (no need to waste more ammunition).We didn't detect any jumpers flying to Earnhard's system to alert the Vader army, so there's no way they'd know they've been duped until it's too late.Even if some Vader troops survived the battlefield over there, they would find no place to park or repair when they flew home.And by then, our troops would have withdrawn long ago. There is no longer any threat in space here.Colonial forces took their time targeting industrial centers, military bases, mines, refineries, salt pans, dams, solar installations, seaports, space launch facilities, major highways... everything necessary to reestablish interstellar navigation capabilities.After six solid hours of continuous bombardment, the Vaders are effectively pushed back to the age of the internal combustion engine, and will likely stay there for a while. The colonial army did not bomb major cities in large areas, and its goal was not to kill civilians indiscriminately.The intelligence agencies of the colonial army estimated that there would be heavy casualties downstream of the blown dam, but there was really no way to solve it.The Vaders could not have prevented the colonial army from blowing up their major cities, but the colonial army's thinking was that when the Vaders' industrial and technological bases were evacuated, disease, famine, political and social unrest would inevitably follow, Vader There are enough problems that man is about to face.As such, attacking civilians would appear both deeply inhumane and a waste of resources. (The latter was equally important to the leaders of the colonial armies.) In short, ground attacks were simply not on the table, except in the capital, which was the target of psychological warfare. The Vaders living in the capital didn't seem to appreciate the kindness.Even during the descent, projectiles and beams exploded on our troop carrier.It sounds a lot like hail, and it's like frying eggs on the hull of a ship. "Two people get off the boat one by one." Vivoros paired the soldiers in the squad, "No one is allowed to act alone. Refer to the map and don't step into the trap. Perry, you are responsible for keeping an eye on Bender, don't let him Sign any peace deal, please. Bonus for you: you two are the first to disembark. Brace yourselves and watch out for snipers." "Bender," I waved him over, "switch your MP to missile mode, and follow me. Quick. Just talk with BrainPal." The inclined ladder of the spaceship was lowered, and Bender and I rushed out of the hatch .Forty meters directly in front of me was an abstract sculpture, and I blasted it away while running.I've never been very fond of abstract art. I ran towards a large building northwest of the land point.Through the glass in the hall, I could see several Vaders inside, long objects in their claws.I fired two or three missiles in their direction.These missiles will go through the glass, if not killing the Vaders, they will divert their attention, so that Bender and I have time to disappear from here.I messaged Bender to smash a window on the second floor of the building; he did.We jumped in and came to a small room that looked like an office.Hey, even aliens have to work.But there were no Vaders here.I guess most people stayed home that day and didn't go to work.Well, who can blame them? Bender and I found a spiral upward ramp.The Vaders in the hall did not come after them.I guess they were so busy dealing with other colonial soldiers that they forgot about us.At the end of the ramp is the roof.I stopped Bender before he hurriedly climbed up to reveal his whereabouts, and then slowly climbed up, and saw three Vaders shooting down the side of the building. I shot two of them, Bender shot the other. Bender sent a message. I sent. The average Vader looks like a cross between a black bear and a large, menacing, flying squirrel.Of course, the Vader we shot looked like a bear-squirrel with a grim face, but with a rifle in his hand, the back of his head was blown off.We walked sideways like crabs, getting to the edge of the roof as fast as we could.I waved for Bender to go to a dead sniper, and I went to the corpse next to him. I sent. Bender replied. I point to other roofs.I sent, Bender sent. I replied. Bender made a grimace, and got under the Vader's body.I did the same, but immediately regretted it.Don't know what a living Vader smells like, but a dead Vader stinks.Bender adjusted his posture and aimed at the entrance; I sent Vivoros the above scene through BrainPal, and then started shooting other snipers on the roof. Before they could figure out what was going on, I had shot six people on four different rooftops.Finally, I saw a man aim his weapon at the rooftop where I was.I shot him in the head and sent a message for Bender to leave the body and slip off the roof.We raced off the roof seconds before the missile hit the roof. On the way down, we ran into the Vaders I thought we'd meet on the way up.I don't know whether we or they were more surprised, but Bender and I opened fire first, rushed down the ramp to the next floor, and the question was answered.I shot two or three grenades down the chute so the two of us could escape while they meditated on it. "What the hell are we going to do now?" Bender yelled at me as we bolted across the floors. I turned a corner and sent.I came to a glass curtain wall and looked out.The height we are at is at least 30 meters, even if the body has been improved, it is difficult to just jump down like this. Here they come.Bender sent.From behind us came a sound, presumably from the angry Vaders. hide.I sent to Bender, aiming the MP at the glass curtain wall closest to me, and firing a shot.The glass shattered, but didn't collapse.I grabbed what might have been a Vader seat, smashed it out the window, and ducked down to the small room next to Bender. Bender sent—— I sent. Four Vaders turned the corner and walked cautiously toward the shattered glass curtain wall.They muttered under their breath; I opened the translator program. "Out of the hole in the wall," said one of them to the other as they came toward the wall. "Impossible," said another, "too high to jump. They'll die." "I've seen them jump a long way," said the first to speak. "Maybe they're all right." "Even if it's them, it's impossible to jump from a height of 130." The third person said, walking towards the first two, "Those guys are still somewhere nearby." "Did you see the body on the chute? It was killed by those guys with the grenade." The fourth Vader said. "We came down the same ramp as you," said a third. "Of course we saw it. Now, shut up and search here. If they're still there, we'll have our revenge, and then Celebrating." The fourth Vader drew closer to the third Vader, stretching out a long paw toward him, as if in sympathy.Now, all four of them stood in front of the open hole in the curtain wall. hands on.I sent to Bender and fired at the same time.The four Vader figures wobbled like marionettes for a few seconds, and then were pushed towards the glass curtain wall that no longer existed under the impact of bullets.Bender and I waited for a while before tiptoeing back to the ramp.There was nothing there but the dead body of a Vader.The smell was pungent, even more so than his fellow snipers on the roof.I have to say, so far on Vader's home planet, it's been a real grind for the nose.We made it to the second floor, retracing the way we had come, past the four Vaders who had assisted us to fly out of the window. "It's really different from what I expected." Bender said blankly at the bodies of those Vaders as he passed by. "What did you expect?" I asked. "I don't know either," he replied. "Well, how could it be different from your expectations?" I said, turning my BrainPal to Vivoros.I sent. Vivoros sent, sending her location information.As she sent the message, I heard it too: sporadic firing, the thud of grenades, but mixed in with it was another sound: a deep, guttural singing that echoed through the buildings of the government center. "This is the diplomatic opportunity I told you about," Bender told me, almost gleefully, as we rounded the last corner and started down toward the natural theater below. Hundreds of Vaders gathered in the theater, singing hymns while shaking and brandishing clubs.Around them, dozens of colonial soldiers occupy the most favorable positions.If they shoot, it's as easy as shooting a turkey.I started my translation program again, but got no translation.Either the chants were meaningless, or they were speaking some Vaedir dialect that the colonial linguists hadn't yet deciphered. I spotted Vivoros and walked towards her. "What's this doing?" I called out to her over the din. "I still want to ask you, Perry!" she called back to me, "I'm just a spectator." She tilted her head to the left, and Lieutenant Keyes was conferring with the other officers, "They're thinking too. , trying to figure out what's going on." "Why didn't anyone shoot?" Bender asked. "Because they didn't shoot at us," Vivoros said. "We were ordered to fire only when necessary. They appeared to be civilians. Although they all had sticks, they didn't threaten us with them. They just danced around." Singing hymns with sticks, so there's no need to kill them. I thought you'd be happy about that, Bender." "I'm really happy," Bender said, pointing at them in mixed surprise and joy. "Look, the leader, he's a Buyeo, a religious leader. Among the Vader, religious leaders hold a very high status. They He might have written that song. Has anyone translated it?" "No," said Vivoros, "they speak a language we don't understand, and have no idea what they're talking about." " Bender walked forward. "It's a prayer for peace," he said. "It must be. Surely they know what we've done to their planet, and have seen what we've done to their cities. Anyone who's been hit like this, whether it's Who will definitely cry and shout, wishing to stop the war." "Oh, you're full of bullshit," Vivoros cuts in, "You don't even know what the hell they're singing about. Maybe it's about how to screw our heads off , pissing on our necks, maybe singing about our own deaths, maybe even about their grocery list. We don’t know anything. Neither do you.” "You're wrong," said Bender. "For fifty years, on Earth, I've been on the front lines of keeping peace. I know when people are going to be ready for peace. I know when they're going to Time to long for peace." He pointed to the singing Vader crowd. "These people are ready, Vivoros, I can feel it.And, I'll prove it to you. "Bender put down his MP and started walking towards the theater. "Damn it, Bender!" Vivoros yelled, "Come back to me immediately! This is an order!" "I'm no longer 'on orders', Corporal!" Bender yelled back, and began to run forward quickly. "Damn it!" Vivoros screamed, starting to run towards him.I reached out to grab her, but couldn't. At this moment, Lieutenant Keyes and the other officers raised their heads and saw Bender rushing towards the Vaders, with Vivoros chasing after his footsteps.Hearing Kais yell something, Vivoros stopped abruptly; Kais must have sent an order through BrainPal at the same time.Of course he would order Bender to stop as well, but Bender apparently ignored his order and continued running towards the Vaders. Finally, Bender stopped at the edge of the theater and stood there silently.Finally, the religious leader who led the chorus noticed the man standing alone on the edge of his congregation and stopped singing.The bewildered crowd mumbled for a minute, out of tune, before noticing Bender.All the Vaders turned to face him. This was exactly the moment Bender was looking forward to.Before the Vaders noticed his presence, he must have taken a moment to write out what he was supposed to say and how it would translate into the Vader language.When he spoke, he tried to speak in the other person's language.All things considered, his efforts were passable. "My friends, comrades who seek peace like me," he said, hands slightly bent inwards, arms extended toward each other. Data collected since then showed that in less than one second, at least 40,000 needle-shaped projectiles hit Bender's body.The projectile, known to the Vaedrians as the Avad Valley, is fired from a stick.The clubs weren't really clubs at all, but traditional projectile weapons shaped like branches of some kind of tree that the Vaders held sacred.Each of the Avad valleys penetrated Bender's tights and body, tearing his body apart.He looked as if he had melted.It was, as everyone later admitted, the funniest death we've ever seen. Bender's body shattered into pieces and splashed down.Colonial soldiers opened fire on the theater.Like a turkey fight really, no Vader escaped from the theater, and no one was able to kill or injure a single Colonial soldier—except Bender.In less than a minute, it was all over. After the ceasefire order was issued, Vivoros walked towards the pool of flesh and blood left by Bender, and began to trample inside like crazy, "How do you feel about your peace now, bastard?" Bender's liquefied organs were stained. scratched her calf, and she cried. "You know what, Bender was right," Vivoros told me on the way back to the Modesto. "Which point?" I asked. "The colonial army is being used too quickly and too often," said Vivoros, "just because it's easier to fight than to negotiate." She waved in the general direction of Vedel's home planet, which was receding behind us. , "We don't have to do, you know, no need to blast these poor bastards out of the universe and let them starve and die and kill each other for the next few decades. We're not murdering civilians today - Well, except for the guys who killed Bender, but they will die of disease and murder each other for a long time, because they can hardly do anything else. It is no different from Genocide. We can only feel It's easier because by the time this happened, we were gone." "You've never agreed with Bender before," I said. "That's right," said Vivoros, "I said he didn't know anything and it was his job to be responsible to us, but I didn't say he was wrong. He should have listened to me. If he listened to me Damn orders, he should be alive by now. As a result, I have to scrape him off the soles of my shoes." "He might say he died for what he believed in," I said. Vivoros snorted, "Please," she said, "Bender died for Bender. Damn it, we just destroyed his planet, and he pretended to be his friend The gang walked over. What an idiot. If I were one of the gang, I would have shot him too." "Real-life people be damned for destroying your ideal of peace," I said. Vivoros smiled slightly. "If Bender was really interested in peace and not in himself, he should be like you and me, Perry." She said, "Obey orders, live, survive步兵服役期限，加入军官训练，一路高升，成为发号施令而不是服从命令的人。只有这样，我们才能在可能创造和平的时候有所作为。正因为如此，我才能'奉命行事'。因为我知道总有一天，我会改变这一切。”她向后一靠，闭上双眼，睡完了剩下的航程。 两个月后，路易莎·维沃若丝死于一个名为深水满是泥浆的星球。我们班奉命清除汉尼殖民地下面一片天然形成的地下洞穴区，却踏进了陷阱。战斗中，我们被逼进了一座洞穴，然后又发现那儿还有另外四条通道，里面满是汉尼人的步兵。维沃若丝命令我们掉头返回进入时的那条通道，然后朝通道入口处开火，将入口打塌，封死通道。根据脑伴数据显示，她转而朝汉尼人开枪，但没能坚持多久。班里其余的人杀出一条路回到了地面上。我们从开始就是被逼进去的，能杀出来实在艰难，但总比中埋伏而死强。 维沃若丝死后获得了一枚英勇勋章，而我被提升为下士，成了班长。维沃若丝的行军床和储物柜分给了一个叫惠特福德的新兵，到目前为止，他还算不错。 机器只不过换掉了一个齿轮，但我很怀念她。

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