TA22

==Chapter 22 - The Armada==
Nagelring Academy
History Course
Tharkad Star System
Unspecified Future Date
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"There is a phrase in human canon, it translates into nearly every language..."
"...that phrase is 'never again'."  Kommandant Ries shuffled his notes in front of the students, "Of course, as a historian, I can tell you, it is more honored in the breach, than the upholding.  that phrase is tied to the wave of genocides that occurred in the mid-twentieth century on Earth, pre-Fusion...pre-atomic even, but there have been dreamers who imagined a better world-a world where those massive resources could be turned to saving lives instead of taking them."
He adjusted his outergarment, "Every one of you here, signed up to be part of that better idea.  By enlisting in the Navy of the Star League Defense Force, you are enlisting in an effort to save life, instead of taking it."  he smiled wanly, "This doesn't mean you won't have to take lives.  Far from it. But that is not what we are here to learn, or to do.  The resources of this war, and don't kid yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, we are in a war.  we don't know who the enemy is, or how far they are away, but we know what they have done, we know some of what they can do."
He gestured in the air, and the holostage lit.  "and we know it is an existential war.  This enemy takes no prisoners, this enemy takes no surrender."  Images of dead and destroyed civilizations flicker to life around him.  "This enemy has targeted human beings. Before any of you make the mistake, the Clans in the homeworlds are human beings too-and they happened to be unlucky enough to be noticed before we were.  This class has a number of texts we will be studying, along with reports from the Ngo, Niops, and Hogarth expeditions..."
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