Snippet #2426187

Derek moved to a nearby cupboard and retrieved a pair of glasses from it. A bottle of liquor too was retrieved as he poured out a glass before looking to Echo.

"A drink?" he asked as he held the bottle of amber alcohol in hand.

At Echo's acceptance of the drink he filled the second glass and offered it to the lad. The kid's question was a valid one, and one that every Aschen soldier asks themselves at one point in their life. It was more or less a matter they all came to terms with in their own ways.

He took a sip of his drink before gesturing to the small viewing window that afforded them a view of Langara in the distance.

"The answer to that question lies there," Derek explained. "It's not our place to question the orders that come down from above. We serve a different purpose. When we put on these uniforms and swore our allegiance, it was to protect the people of the Aschen Co-" he paused. "The Aschen Empire," he corrected. "There are over forty-five billion people who call this place home, and all of them look to us for their survival, their way of life. Sometimes we do distasteful things in the name of security, but as long as you serve the people of this Empire, your conscience is clear."