The empty hallways of the holding cells were filled with tension as the two troopers stood apart: Priad who wanted to protect Faith, and Trooper 553 who seemed to have other plans in his mind. They stared at each other with suspicion of one another.
"Priad. That's quite a name you've given yourself. Or should I say given by someone" Without pointing his fingers, Priad already knew who that person 553 was talking about.
Before losing his memories, Priad had made sure nobody knew about his past with Faith. It seems that 553 has finally uncovered his secret past. Priad begins to sweat a little inside his armor. Unlike the Akadian crew and the general, 553 can see signs of nervousness through the armor.
"Since you came here in a hurry, I can guess why. Faith's execution has been issued, hasn't it?"
Again, a chill ran down his spine as 553 managed to guess that correctly. Lying doesn't appear to get Priad anywhere at this point. So, he decided to come clean and perhaps convince 553 to stop.
"Yes"
After hearing his answer, 553 walks up to Priad, taking out his pistol while aiming it at him. When he got closer, he flipped the pistol and offered it to him.
"Go ahead. Do it"
Priad looks down at the pistol. His hand slowly reaches it, though shaken as he gets ever closer to gripping it. Then there was the voice. It became louder and louder, slowly closing and drowning all other thoughts going through his head.
Just as he was close to grabbing the pistol, 553 retracted his hand and prevented Priad from grabbing it. His suspicion was becoming even clearer now.
"You can't do it, can't you?"
The voices finally calmed down and Priad returned to his senses. For a moment, Priad would feel he could go berserk to obey the voices.
"Tell me. Did Mia Narukami reprogram you to protect Faith? Were you hearing the voices just now?"
553 guessed correctly. But how could he have known? Perhaps since the destruction of the barrier and the return of their memories, 553 could piece together what had happened.
"I asked 421 and the others if they received similar orders from our higher-ups. It didn't take much to figure it out" 553 then turns to the cell door and looks at Faith "Don't even try to do what you did back then"
"Is that so?" Priad surprisingly was calm. He then took off his helmet, revealing his calm look "If I do what I did back then, we might be executed for treason. Even worse if we were the only ones left alive, just like back then"
Knowing that Priad means to repeat what he did back in their early days, 553 once again turns to Priad in anger "You fool"
In a rage, he approaches Priad and grabs him by the collar "Do you not feel any guilty? It was because of you that the others died back then. If only you hadn't led them through your whole charade..."
"...We would all die because we were all defects. Either by making us test dummies for their new weapons or outright killing us" Priad then smiled sympathetically "Yes, I do feel guilty. That's why I have to keep going"
"You..." 553 looks at Priad dumbfounded by his stubbornness. It seems that Priad had gotten on his nerves.
Priad expression then spoke in a serious tone, continuing to disrupt 553 despite his irritations on him "Listen. Our enemies from the Interstellar Federation are about to invade this world soon. Among them is an exceptional warrior who calls herself the Fallen Princess"
A temporary surprise formed on 553, but then he regained his composure "So we go back into battle. That's it"
"No, it's not. Currently, only 3 cruisers are orbiting this planet. Not enough to defend a world from a full invasion force"
"Hah, don't be ridiculous. They surely will send reinforcements..."
"But not fast enough to get here" Priad cut him off, then sharpened his eyes "You think we can hold them off like this?"
553 pauses as he realizes what Priad meant. Indeed, such a meager force wouldn't be able to withstand an entire invasion fleet long enough for their reinforcements to get here. He then took his hands off Priad's collars.
"What's it going to be? Either continue trying to kill Faith, and I will do everything in my power to stop you, resulting in us getting into trouble thanks to our little fight. Or..." Priad extends his hand towards 553 "You can do what you have always done since then, and follow my plans. Which is it?"
553 clenches his hands, again frustrated at Priad "You're going to do it again. Leading our men to their death so that we could live?"
"No. I want to get all of us through this. Not just them, but also the Armenthians and those who fought alongside us" Still extending his hand, Priad asked once again in a serious tone "Whatever your choice is, make one you won't regret?"
Those words once again ring through Priad's head. The advice that Yami gave him before they departed the heart. It seems the first one to make such choices would be Trooper 553.
As 553 remains indecisive on whether to trust Priad once again or to act on his own, he was taken aback in the early days. To when all of this mess started, back when Priad led the first and forgotten Trooper rebellion.
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Troopers are Akadian clones created for one sole purpose. To obey their masters and fight to the death. During the early days of their life where they grew up in an isolated facility, they would be trained for months. The programs inside their head were designed to keep their loyalty, making them loyal to their commanders without question.
However, not all troopers were created perfectly. Some of these troopers might have some physical disabilities or irreparable failures during their training that would disqualify them from being a soldier on the front. Some may even have the programs inside their head not working correctly. Priad and 553 were unfortunately one of them.
It was back when they were still younger, during their training period. In a barracks filled with defective troopers, 553 and the others were only minding their own business. However, they weren't very optimistic about their current situation.
A small test would be conducted where it would require some disposable troopers to be used as test dummies for a new weapon. Fortunately for the facility, they have quite a handful of rejects for this task.
Just as all hope was lost for them, Priad storms inside, slamming the door open.
"All of you, listen up. I have a way out of this"
They turn towards Priad in confusion. As they did, Priad walked to the middle of the room to brief them.
"I know what weapon they are going to use on us. It's quite dangerous that it would require a lot of us to be in the same room. But, I have a plan to get us out alive"
He took out a knife and then used one of the floor tiles of the barracks to draw a rough picture of the testing chamber "From what I can gather, the room will be like this. When we enter, we'll be equipped with lethal rifles and standard armor. They expect us to put up a fight for this one. However, there is ventilation here that we can use to drop in heavier ordinance for those of us who are inside" He drew a mark on the spot where the ventilation is located.
"This plan is risky, but if we succeed, we might escape and leave this facility with our lives"
One of the troopers raises his voice "I don't know about this, 117. I mean, I'm not sure we can even pull this off"
"We have to. Otherwise, we'll be sitting ducks there waiting to die"
The troopers started murmuring among themselves. Some agree to this plan while others don't. It was then that 553 stepped forward to voice his opinion.
"Everyone, listen. This might be our only chance to survive. If they won't accept us as official troopers, then there's no other way than this. I say let's give it a try"
One by one, the troopers started to agree. Each gave a nod to Priad, approving his plan.
"Alright then" Priad smiled confidently "So, here's what we have to do..." And with that, he starts relaying the plans to them.
Sometime after that, the weapon testing commences. Thanks to Priad's plan, they managed to escape the testing chamber successfully. However, the one that they eluded, and the one who was testing the weapon was none other than the legendary general, Hirodinus Konrad.
Through his cunning, he managed to trap the rebelled troopers in a training chamber and slaughtered them all there. All except for Priad and 553.
He and 553 were then put into a cell. Priad's shoulder was dislocated but was healing over time, and 553 was eternally traumatized by the sight of his fellow trooper's execution.
As his rage surged, 553 then lunged towards Priad, pinning him down to the ground as he sat on top of him. He then raises his fists and punches Priad repeatedly.
"This is all you, 117. Damn you...Damn you!"
Priad's blood splattered on the floor as 553 took out all of his anger on the one who was responsible for this. Priad did not react at all and just took it all in, even preparing himself to die for this mistake.
The bloodshed continued until the guards came inside to pacify 553, stunning him with an electro baton and restraining him. Ever since that day, 553 has come to hate Priad and all of his so-called dreams.
But the hatred doesn't matter. Because in the end, Priad was always the one taking command.
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553 paused as he looked at his choices. It seems that things are about to repeat itself. Priad will take command and come up with a crazy plan to lead them to victory, even if the plan would require a lot of sacrifice.
Yet despite that, he could see the seriousness in Priad's eyes. He knows that no matter what he says, Priad will continue to repeat his mistakes, and nothing he says will convince him.
Just like the rebellion back then, the countless battles that they have been, and the way he called the Akadian fleet to Hakona. The choices that were given to 553, it was obvious that there was only one choice that would be the best for all of them.
Sigh
With a single sigh, 553 dismisses Priad's hand in annoyance "I hope you have a plan"
Priad smiled "Just like old times"
The two, despite 553 not fully agreeing with Priad, had finally made up their minds to work together. Like they always had all this time.
Unfortunately, Faith was starting to wake up from her nap, confused and angered as she saw a familiar scene from when she was held captive onboard the frigate.
"Priad!"