maskormenace | 14, Video

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14, Video

[The woman on the video is tall and stern-looking, with blue eyes that kind of make you feel cold just by looking at them.]

This is Major-General Olivier Mira Armstrong. For those of you who don't know me, I'm the commander of RISE: Rogue Import Suppression Enforcement. We're an imPort-run group that works with the local law enforcement to police our own, and handle crises that local, unpowered officers can't. We're headquartered out of Helix Station in Maurtia Falls, and were instrumental in fighting back the Soviet occupation some months ago.

The whims of the device that brings us here and sends us home have left my staff limited. I need new recruits, both those willing to confront potential rogue imPorts, and those willing to bring them to justice via trials.

That is all. Armstrong out.

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I've heard much about your organisation, Major-General. What is your response to the criticism levelled at you and your soldiers?

[ He knows some of it was personal. It's a level of examination and scrutiny that Damen has never witnessed anywhere, and there's a large part of him that thinks it's ludicrous. He's mainly curious about how it has impacted her work, and how RISE will go on from here. ]

Some of it was valid, and measures were put in place to ensure it doesn't happen again. Other points of criticism, I disagree with. I won't apologize for being strict in my pursuit of justice and public safety.

Nor do I think you should.

May I ask why you allowed such an investigation at all? You have your critics a platform. Now your stronghold has been de-armed. I know that I am new here, but this does not seem an improvement to me.

[ But then he's a military man, from an authoritarian world. To limit RISE's ability to protect people does not make sense to him. Surely that is the reason why imports were brought here in the first place. ]

Edited 2016-10-29 23:09 (UTC)

Unfortunately, stuffed-shirt pantywaist bureaucrats have more sway here than they might in a sane world.

That will please them less, when you have not the resources to defend them as in the past.

Welcome to the hypocrisy of civilians. Always hounding to have guards on the wall. Never wanting to let them do their jobs.

That is why civilians should not make military decisions.

[ And where Damen is from, they would not. It's a disgrace. ]

I fear their lack of vision may come back to haunt them. I hope that I am wrong.

Where I'm from, there is no civilian government. The military controls the country.

It's efficient, though not without drawbacks.

In my country the King's word is law, and the army swears fealty to him.

I know that things are different here. Perhaps I expect soldiers to do more than these people wish them to. That will be their mistake when real war comes to their door.

[ As opposed to the false war they have going on now. Damen has never seen anything like it; it's more like an elongated standoff than any kind of conflict. ]

Hereditary rule breeds weakness in its own right. A weak king makes for a weak country.

Rule should be by the strong. The most competent should lead.

Strength does not always equal competence. And there is more than one kind of strength, besides.

Either way, people rule here by popularity. Your organisation has been judged the same way.

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