Simulated Aggression
Simulated Aggression
Arc: Character progression
Summary: 2nd Lt Singh asks Azran to teach her how to kill without remorse.
Date: 2659.256
Related Logs: None
Participants: Azran, Singh

"Ok Jules you can do this… he's only a murderous deadly claw monster that can remove all your organs by accident or for fun… " She told herself while walking to the bar, She turned back and paced one more time. "He can't kill you in public, he'd be executed on the spot, he knows it… "

Maybe he wasn't in the bar, maybe I'm getting worked up for nothing she thought. She then heard a high pitched shriek and Jack Coulson running away from the bar. He's in there…

She inhaled and entered the bar. The lights were flickering, and the TV screen was still missing. Few pilots were resting there and there was a large gap between everyone else and the renegade Kilrathi pilot. Julianna walked up to Azran. She stopped and inhaled deeply. "Azran… I don't know how to ask this" she said nervously as the feline warrior stood up, towering over his peer. "I would like… Could you teach… me… " She inhaled. "Could you teach me to kill?"

Azran looked down at Julianna and her strange request, a brow cocked, for several seconds. Then, he slowly let out that menacing grin and chuckled at her, "….Very well. Come, we should begin at once." He says with a pat to her shoulder, no doubt bruising it, and turning for the simulators.

"Ok one step at a time. We gotta stop that bastard… I need to do this." She repeated to herself. She followed Azran while practising circular breathing.

They arrive at the simulator room, and see several empty pods. Azran wasted no time settling into one, Bending his legs due to the confinement. He programmed the simulator, and nostalgically picks his fighter craft. Julianna selected one of her old favorites, still working on her breathing. "I… I'm ready."

Azran appeared in a jalthi, and began the scenario, surprised with Singh's choice of a scimitar. "Show no mercy, for you shall receive none in return."

Immediately 4 fighters appeared, two modernized Krant and two Gratha. They all converged on the Jalthi, allowing Julianna to focus on a Krant. She scored multiple hits on the front shields, damaging the weapons subsystems at the same time. Azran grimaced while testing the controls. He masterfully dodged all opposition, watching mass driver and missiles fly off into the void. His initial salvo did not connect on the gratha. "It has been… some time, since I last flew a Jalthi… these controls do it no justice.." He let out, sounding insulted on behalf of the Kilrathi engineers.

«Mittens, why do you or say Cyric feel joy in destroying these ships?» Karen asked «Isn't this a tragic waste for you?»

She pushed her attack and destroyed the control system of the Krant, leaving it dead in space. Azran continued his astrobatics, leaving his Jalthi untouched. He laughed heartily as his simulated heavy fighter dances through the fire, « I wonder how you do not. This is what every Kilrathi lives for. To prove your worth through strength, speed, guile, and skill! Every warrior knows death lies around every corner, and denying him at each turn is the greatest thrill of all!»

Karen felt her cockpit rattle, having focused on her wingman's words rather than the situation at hand, a Gratha unloaded a barrage of shots, knocking out her shields and aft armor. She targetted it and defensively engaged. Mittens let out a friend or foe missile against the second Gratha. She fired a dumbfire at the bomber, and had a high deflection hit, the bomber's shields and aft armor absorbed the impact. «Fox 2, so if your entire society is based on killing.. how did it sustain itself?»
Azran hit a glancing shot on the Krant with all guns. A glancing shot from a Jalthi is like a glancing shot from the sun, all the front shields and armor were disintegrated in a second. Karen continued introspecting while having obtained a heatseeker lock on the Gratha. The javelin HS missile hit the gratha, but once again the shields and armor absorbed the impact. «Switching to guns… these gratha were made tough. You think their designers and engineers were bloodlusted while designing these?» She asked.

Azran noted the other fighter pulling off of him and started flying more aggressively. He turned on the Krant trying to strafe at him. «For the Kilrathi, everything is a struggle for dominance. Dominance over the enviroment, dominance over outsiders, dominance each other, dominance over ourselves. It is our natural instinct. This is why the Kilrathi hold honor in such regard. For it is the denial of our baser selves for the good of all the Empire…» He trailed off a bit.

«So you see the nobility in not killing, in rising above what you feel is right for what you know is right? I honestly assumed most Kilrathi were like you, aggressive but logical about it. The Kilrathi I've had on the radio seemed single minded in their actions…» Karen paused, holding her breath and waiting for her mass drivers to recharge. She then fired off her entire gun charge missing the elusive Gratha. Azran was barely luckier, barely scratching the shields of the Krant.

Azran chuckled wistfully, «I believe that once, you would have been right….I was raised on tales of such noble warriors, and always held them as sacrosanct….But…I feel there is a sickness, stemming from the heart of the empire…One which must be cut and burned by force if the Kilrathi are to survive.»

«What of this nobility, what does that mean for a Kilrathi?» She asked while looping around for another pass at the Gratha.

« The nobles of the empire are sworn a sacred duty. To protect those beneath them and advance the empire's interests throughout the galaxy. It is a right, privilege, and honor. For the peasantry, it is their duty to obey the nobility without question, trusting in their wisdom and knowledge to tend their best interests. » He paused, «….In practice, I have seen far too many abuse this sacred trust…»

Karen's shots wizzed past the gratha, and the frustration started getting to her. «Enough with this Gratha!» She let out. She attempted to regain composure. «Those videos in the bar… they didn't seem to show that deference of which you speak. You think people like him still follow such a code?»

Azran grumbled at Karen's tough question, firing a missile as the Krant twists around him, «…No. That *thing* is a degenerate, unworthy of the noble blood in it's veins….And yet, it is a symptom of a wider corruption…» he said while watching the missile make contact and shred off the tail of the enemy vessel.

«He calls himself 'lord', and seems to disparage the empire, why is he able to do such thing.» Karen continued, distraught and missing the Gratha. Her mind was on the earlier mission where she killed a human slave in a drone.

Azran sighted down the stubborn Krant, ploughing through it's weak barrage and making a burst with the Jalthi's many many guns, narrowly scraping the exposed engines, triggering a small backfire from it, « We are far from the heart of the Empire, and it is of a prominent clan, long at odds with the ruling clan Kiranka. Here, it is "safe", so long as it remains a successful combatant. »

«You know… I have to say… I don't like the hunt aspect one bit, but setting out do to something, and then executing on it, I can definitely get behind.» Karen takes another pot shot at the Gratha.

Azran smirked, « The hunt is the measure of a warrior's skill. It is one thing to simply kill something. It is another to track it down, strip it's defences bare, and then slay it in it's place of power. » The last volley ruined the engines of the Krant, Azran's smirk turnined to a viciously hungry grin.

«I swear this Gratha is made of teflon.» Karen barked impatiently as her gunfire seemed to be constantly deflected by the shields.

Azran fired a last volley and the Krant lit up like a fireworks display someone chucked a grenade into, twisting off to deal with the poor Gratha, « I do not know what that is. »

Azran smirked, clearly pleased at his simulated kill and the failure of it's backup to pose him a threat in the mighty heavy fighter, « Focus. Attack at the sides, it is where the Gratha's armor is weakest. And do not spare it your best. Were this a true foe it would spare you only to take as a slave, to suffer every indignity imaginable before growing bored and feeding you to a karrigle. »

«Trying a side» Karen answered, engaging her afterburners at an angle and unloading all of her battery while she turned to lead her target. She saw every shot impact, first reducing the shields, then shattering a hole in the armor and finally severing the manoeuvring jets. «Whoo!» Karen shouted out… then recomposing herself «I mean, thanks Mittens, that worked.».

Azran laughed boisterously sharing Karen's triumph, « Excellent shot! Now, move in and finish him. And when you are done, deal with the one left adrift. »

Emboldened by her victory, she lined up the limping Gratha in her sights. She then fired a controlled burst of mass driver pellets that destroyed her targets missile launcher. The Jalthi was mirroring her, managed to unload it's entire battery on the pristine Gratha. destroying its missile launcher too.

They both gave each other a knowing look, and fired simultaneous heatseeking missiles at their opponents. Azran's target lost a wing. Karen's wasn't so lucky, in attempting to dodge, its cockpit took the missile dead on, leaving the pilot dead.

«Got 'im. Coming to assist.» Karen said, satisfied.

Azran cackled gleefully at the sight of Karen's missile turning the Gratha's cockpit into a shrapnel filled smoke, barely even noticing his own blasting the wing off his crippled foe, « No. The one adrift. Finish him. »

«Why, it's not a threat? you sure you got the other Gratha?» Karen replied, wanting to cover her wingman.

« You know what this is about. » Azran said coldly as he turned his attention back to the Gratha.

Karen sighed… «Lining up on the Krant, lighting him up.»

Her first strafing run took down the shields. She then lined up on the front canopy and sheared it off. An explosion ensued. Meanwhile Mittens dodged the Gratha's fire, lining up behind it, to damage it's reactor.

«Mittens you want a hand now?» Karen asked having accomplished the task at hand.

Azran nodded contentedly at Karen finishing the helpless Krant, suddenly veering off from the Gratha on it's last legs, « Finish him off. »

She fell behind it and dispatched it, while it was attempting to take on the Kilrathi renegade.

Karen jumped out, and removed the visor, wiping the sweat off her forehead… "thanks for the cultural insights… I think I understand a bit more how the empire thinks… So then… if you were to say… kill… Bladelord, the empire would not suffer a blow to the morale… only the dissident voices? And the empire has more chances of making peace with the confederation than the dissidents…" she paused "So killing one, could save thousands…"

Azran stretched as the tiny simulator released him and he stepped out of it, stretching his back out as he rose, "Urgh…Yes, well, I am always pleased to share what I may. If you ever have questions, do not hesitate to ask." And then the question arose, "….If it were to die, simply out on another mission, the empire would begrudge the loss of one of it's pilots, and all sides would be unified further against the confederation….If it were to die, acting a fool for the whole of the Empire to see, only those of like minds would bereave it." He paused and looks aside, "….There is only one in the whole of the Empire who can call for peace with the Confederation…"

"Killing one… could save thousands… the first step of Shyama… " She repeated with a sigh, then snappingg back. "The … emperor?" she asked with a lost voice.

At the mention of the most important figure in Kilrathi society, Azran visibly winced before looking away and slowly nodding, "…..Yes….The Emperor…"

Azran looked back to Karen, "If you do not kill your targets, you force another to do it another time. Another who may be killed by them in turn."

"Yes. I make sure the point is clear before leaving it… but I always give the target a choice to come out alive. If they chose to take it, I feel both sides win." she replied "Also, if they do surrender, it will save us the potential damage to our ships. Allow us to keep on protecting our home."

Azran's ears twitched and he turned his head confusedly, "….Sir-end-er? I have heard this word before….But I do not understand it…."

"It's quite simple… to submit or swear fealty… admit defeat?" She cocked her head, trying to imitate Azran sympathetically.

Azran only looked more confused by this.

"Ok, you had slaves before discovering other species… you could… oh…"

"surrendering in combat must be equivalent to offering yourselves as slaves… Does that make… sense?" She grimaced at her logic.

Azran's fur puffed out, "No Kilrathi would ever allow themselves to be enslaved. The death of one's whole clan would be preferable to such shame."

"Then… if they see surrender as being slavery… would only goad them on to fight harder… " She donned a big goofy smile, having understood what to do.

Azran furrowed his brow, "….Each of your attempts to get Kilrathi to cease fighting….They are grievous insults, which can only be avenged through bathing in your blood and the blood of those you care for."

"I know! I understood the mistake! You'll see next time we're on a mission! thanks!" She continued her smile almost ear to ear. She paused and the smile faded. "I only wish I understood it sooner… such a useless waste." Her smile returned "Oh well, I know what to do now." She continued without skipping a beat. "Hey, did you try the human desert called "Ice cream" yet?"

Azran noded and lets out a toothy smile, "It is only a waste if you refuse to learn." And then his brow furrowed, "Ice cream?….How can ice have cream?"

"I have, learned, you'll see. Wish I understood sooner though" She continued "Ice cream is a frozen desert, typically made with frozen dairy and sweetened. My cat back home loved milk, he used to try to eat my ice cream… I miss old patchy."