The Hawaiian Special Forces

Chapter 10

Aoloa sat in Commander Clarke's office, uncertain what he was doing there. It was rare for them to go up the elevator outside of missions. "Boy, what's got all this stuff in your head? I hear you're concerned about the differences between you and normal humans, about what we're doing in these battles."

He nodded reluctantly. "I'm just... trying to understand humans, Sir. I mean, I'll keep doing our missions, that's not a problem, but what am I really fighting for? It's not like I know many humans. You're the only one I interact with regularly, to be honest."

Clarke sighed. "I know. The problem is, most of the people who know about you are scientists. They won't give you the interaction you want. Or military people, who view you as tools, not individuals. They think of you as very smart animals, not people."

"They... What?"

"Look, they haven't interacted with you. They don't want to. They're sending a bunch of kids to go fight battles without any choice, because we made you instead of you enlisting. If they think of you as animals, it makes it easier on them."

"Sir, I'd like to meet some people. Normal people. I want to know what I'm fighting for."

"It's not enough to know you're protecting their ability to lead peaceful, comfortable lives, is it?"

"I guess I just don't see what the threat is."

"Imagine a world filled with members of the pack. Weak, territorial, but dangerous in groups. Now imagine them as super aggressive. That's what people are like. Physically, we're weaker than you. We're less organized than the pack, but more inclined to get in fights. Only the people doing the fighting generally aren't the ones who decide when and where and who to fight.

"Half the type you cats fight for no obvious reason at all. Imagine that, but on a global scale. Millions of people die because some idiot decides to prove how tough he is, and his target decides to take him down a notch or two.

"You're doing two things. First, Hawaii doesn't have a lot of land or troops. Most nations could, in theory, wipe us out if they wanted. They tried, except we were careful. We used technology to get an edge. That's what you represent.

"Second, you're helping protect other people. Imagine a second Korean war, but with nuclear weapons. It wouldn't be good, and the fallout would drift over Alaska. Then Canada. You studied military history. You know how bad things can get. What you don't see is how close to a world war we are every, single, day."

"It's that bad?"

Clarke nodded. "Have a look over the data you got from the last mission. Really look. We're not fighting to save just Hawaii, we're fighting to save everything. We're hoping you guys down in the chambers will be the edge to keep things from blowing up. If you can't, we'll probably have to nuke most of the Middle East. There's a lot of innocent people there, but there's an awful lot of people who want to rule the world, too."

Aoloa frowned slightly. Is the world really resting on my shoulders?

"By the way, I hope you like the feel of sand between your toes. That's where your crew is going next. Meet me in orientation in twenty."