The West Sea

Chapter 16: Good Speed

It was about three in the morning when Dara Palilia finally said her goodbyes to Trio and his mother. His father, Captain Gatdula Agapay, went down to the street to light a smoke. Arman walked her out of the hospital and they both saw Captain Agapay and Lieutenant de Sol having a discussion at a nearby alley just beside the hospital.

"What are you still doing here?" shouted the Captain. Lieutenant Andreus de Sol had been waiting for one of them to come down. Unfortunately, the irate Captain was the one who would hear his pathetic excuses.

Agapay hurried down the dark alley as Arman and Dara hid behind the dumpsters at the alley's opening.

"Look, Captain. That thing with the Marshal's assistant? I had nothing to do with that."

"So what? Forgive and forget is that it, you damn traitor?"

"I am not a traitor!"

"Then why are you helping Sakai's son? You're mentor has got you by the damn collar and you have nothing to show for it. Do you remember what Maximo did during the war? Huh? Half the Amanium from the fleeing enemy corsair was missing when your squad took it down..."

Captain Agapay continued berating de Sol. The Lieutenant could only concede to the Captain's accusations.

"...Then all of a sudden, wow! Maximo Sakai was suddenly rich and the rest of you guys where left to scraps! And don't tell me you don't know about his little 'business' down by the docks either."

"Look!" Andreus had enough of the Captain's verbal attacks. The Lieutenant took the Captain by the collar and shoved him back against the wall. Dara wanted to intervene but Arman stopped her from interjecting the two officer's quarrel.

"I have a debt to repay. It cost me my life. My family. Everything. I can't just stop doing what he asks. You think I did it because I'm as evil as Sakai? You think I'm some evil henchman following orders without question?"

"Yes. That's what I'm saying." Agapay pushed back de Sol, slowly wringing his scuffled neck.

"Then what about us then, Captain? Huh? What about every single one who fought in the West Sea? We're we evil?"

"That's not the same, de Sol. We did what we had to. They were coming at us and..."

"Did they? We've killed thousands. Hundreds of thousands, because people in power, like Maximo Sakai, ordered us to. You never asked questions when they told us to sink that foreign passenger cruiser. Or that random carrier ship that just happened to enter our territory. Where those people evil?"

Andreus pulled back his composure as long as he could, but he could not contain his frustrations any longer.

"Don't come at me like I'm some evil bastard doing this just for the hell of it. I'm helping Marcus Sakai because I owe his father a debt I'm willing to pay the price for. You know where I ended up after the war? Do you?! Do you have any idea what happened to my family? My children? Do you even know how it feels for a father to come home and see his children starving?!"

Lieutenant de Sol broke down to the floor, trying to cry away his pain. Captain Agapay witnessed the officer in front of him break down, much like any other soldier who have seen the horrors of war.

"Not all of us came out whole after the war , Captain. Even if we survived the war, not all of us made it through. You might have survived and lived a happy life but some of us had no where else to go."

Captain Agapay was silent. He had no response to the truth about the war's aftermath.

"Maximo Sakai offered me a position as a training officer and I accepted. I even got promoted. Even if he had offered me a janitorial position I would've accepted as long as I can take care of my family. Would you do anything for your family, Captain?"