Strike Witches: Fallen Humanity

Legacy

As expected, Andrea not only agreed to the use of the camera, but also provided everything he had hidden until now.
They had settled into the briefing room, laying out on the desks everything he had hidden and used as padding for his coat.

Ursula was as if hypnotized, she had the camera in her left hand and in her right an advanced pistol made of a plastic material, very light yet solid. She had fallen in love with it, as soon as she could get her hands on precision instruments she would take it apart piece by piece until she knew it like the back of her own hand.

Meanwhile, on the other bank, Andrea was translating a government document of his for Mio, Minna, Gertrud and Grace.
It was a new language that had been coined by Emperor Galland, the same one from which the salute "Credepo Tin Causa" comes. He didn't know it, but he had managed to memorize a few letters and their meanings; unfortunately it wasn't much, you could say that his entire knowledge of the language resided in that single document, but it was something.

They looked at the document undaunted from top to bottom: It was gray and black, except for the dark blue USE emblem. It wasn't too complicated, it was just composed of a laurel wreath on the sides and a white face without eyes and with a half-open mouth, almost more similar to a theater mask. Andrea said that the face symbolized the genetic equality of every citizen, it meant that every person because of such perfection could fight for the government and its ideals. The empty eyes meant blind obedience to authority, while the half-open mouth indicated the gesture of swallowing water, a memorandum that meant that for every liter of water not drunk, a liter of blood the enemy had to pay.

Wanting to look away from that emblem of terror, the four witches focused on Andrea's identification photo.
It expired every four years and he was supposed to change it next year, in 2032. He said that this particular photo was special, it was taken the day he received an important medal of valor. For this very reason he was dressed in an "elegant" way: The coat was decorated with two shoulder pads depicting the government emblem, while on his head instead of a helmet there was an officer's hat from which the letters USE stood out above the visor, he said that it was all painted in gold.

However, that face, though young, lacked any energy. He was there, with one hand giving a military salute while with the other he held a rifle very similar to the Garand, but as enviable as that position might be, that face eliminated all doubt. At first glance it seemed the face of someone who had seen his own mother die before his eyes, but as close as that was to reality, that time that dull face was for something else.
When asked what the medal was for, he always replied: "I eliminated hostiles inside a fortress, liberating it." This half-truth, as he told it to his platoon, he now told the witches; He had liberated a fortress, but not heroically with guns blazing.
The medal of valor awarded to him was actually for courage, the courage of being the only one to obey the orders given. Such orders were to use mortars loaded with white phosphorus and to fire on a position under siege, occupied mainly by recruits, mostly children from 9 to 12 years old. He was the only one to open fire and the only one to volunteer to inspect the area once it was conquered. A war crime had been acclaimed by the government, and he must be proud of it, not by choice, it was an order to be it.

The medal was there, on yet another table, Erica was comparing it with her Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub.
It was a small medal of pure gold, supported by a necklace of soft dark red plastic to symbolize the blood shed, on this medal was carved a skull with four letters in capital letters. HERO: Hate Enemy Rules Overall.
She watched it with the innocence of a little girl, wondering the amount of blood that Andrea had to shed to save so many people to get a medal; It had to be a medal dedicated to the rescue, right? It said "Hero" after all.
That said, it didn't look so good anyway, if her medal for the 250th downing was a simple cross, for such a victory what would the USL have given her a medal, a load of ammunition?