[Episode I Cat A] [Cymoon - L15 -RM] DB edits go hard

Not all battles span vast landscapes and heap glory upon the combatants. Some are fought in obscurity and some are battles of one’s soul. 

Aki Sawa was a noble born clovoc elite, trained from childhood that death in battle was the acceptable end. Upon Phatrong’s subjugation, he fled to find true battlefields afar, eventually becoming part of a diehard Kyuzo death squad - Rising Sons. 

But warfare was not what Aki expected. There were no brave charges on overwhelming Imperial forces or lasts stands to hold the line against a relentless onslaught. Most of his time was spent repairing engines, salvaging equipment, and trying not to think about his consummate starvation. His kills in “battle” were mostly civilian targets - suppliers to core systems, typically unarmed due to imperial regulations on freighters with weapons arrays. What glory was there in this inglorious work? Ali relentlessly ached in his shame and inadequacy among his honored ancestors.

To Ta Hei, a commoner among the Phatrong Kyuzo, life could not be more meaningful. Not only did he have a noble master to serve, but he could do so with a level of self sacrifice matched by by few dedicated handmen to the Clovis. 

Butchery in the name of his masters cause came natural to Ta. Compared to the high regard of the Sawa nobles, the Imperial crewmen and their supporting merchants were mere swine. Ta relished in the dirtiest deeds because it just further proves his dedication to his master.

The attack on the Cymoon industrial complexes was both a great battle of consequence and daring, according to Ta, as well as an utter chore of civilian slaughter, per Aki. Like using a ceremonial vibroblade to fell a tree, the warrior’s tools and training were wasted. “But sacking the hydroponics stations that fed Cymoon I would devastate the imperial factories’ already choked supply lines - causing industrial unions to riot en mass - and spreading our efforts a million fold.” Ta did find the most efficient targets, but those never gave Aki the death he so desperately sought. 

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