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EVE-Online RP Discussion and Resources => EVE Fiction + Fiction discussion => Topic started by: ArtOfLight on 24 Mar 2013, 17:30

Title: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: ArtOfLight on 24 Mar 2013, 17:30: Federal Navy Academy, Duripant
(http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z37/g0Solo/MHall.jpg)

The alarm blared over the speakers, resounding through the hallways and echoing across the mess hall. The flood of chatter and the general commotion of silverware and trays ground to a halt as the alarm slowly died down and the purpose for its sounding was made clear over the comm system.

"Cadets and staff, attention!" The powerful and clear voice of Academy Commander Arlissa Monroe rang out. "Today is a pivotal day in Federation history! Five years ago, the warmongering and destructive Caldari mercilessly and suddenly attacked the civilian planet of Luminaire Seven! Five years ago, the CNS Shiigeru was set in orbit over the planet, a symbol of tyranny and injustice that would hold Federal citizens hostage under the oppressive thumb of a dictator bent on destroying our way of life!"

The mess hall began to fill with murmurs and whispers as the events of that horrific day were recalled in the minds of those present. A brief pause in the message over the comms would usher in images over Luminaire VII on the vid screens surrounding the room. The murmurs and whispers vanished into silence as the images of a massive titan exploding and sinking into the atmosphere of the planet could be seen along with several other ships breaking apart and meeting their end above the planet.

The silence melted away as Monroe continued, "Today! Today that symbol has been shattered! The iron fist of the tyrant Heth is broken and scattered, its support fleet crushed and trampled beneath the might of the Federation Navy! No longer will this testament to the evils of the Caldari darken the skies of our populace! Today, you are all part of the force that defeated villainy!"

Images of the massive battle over Luminaire VII continued to play out over the vid screens, the mess hall was paralyzed with silence as every eye watched the scene unfold.

"Today Freedom and Liberty stand beside justice! Stand proud, citizens and soldiers of the Federation! Today is your day!"

The vid screens continued displaying the massive debris breaking apart and disappearing into the atmosphere of the planet. Ships exploded as death and destruction acted out their spotlight. No cheers rang out from those present, no celebrations nor shouts of victory.

Only silence. Only the sound of liberty.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Ava Starfire on 24 Mar 2013, 19:32: Loved this SO much.

Short and hits. Just like it should be.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Pieter Tuulinen on 24 Mar 2013, 22:17: Nice juxtaposition between the rousing speech and the sober reception!
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Sepherim on 24 Mar 2013, 22:24: Nice read! :D
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Arnulf Ogunkoya on 25 Mar 2013, 06:18: Quote from: Sepherim on 24 Mar 2013, 22:24
Nice read! :D

That it is. I can't help but wonder if real world cadets would respond this way though.

Where is the picture from by the way?
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: ArtOfLight on 25 Mar 2013, 06:23: Quote from: Arnulf Ogunkoya on 25 Mar 2013, 06:18
Quote from: Sepherim on 24 Mar 2013, 22:24
Nice read! :D

That it is. I can't help but wonder if real world cadets would respond this way though.

Where is the picture from by the way?

They may or may not respond that way, to be honest. The general reaction of people to simple news would be cheer but we are often far less gleeful when we see the effects. The silence is in realization of the great cost this victory would come at with the ship falling into the planet, etc. In general, the Federation populace has always responded negatively when the fallout from an action seems more costly than the benefit.

As for the picture - I found it on Google and blurred it intentionally.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Vincent Pryce on 25 Mar 2013, 06:33: Nifty story.

Picture looks to be from Starship Troopers, one of them not sure which.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Alain Colcer on 25 Mar 2013, 06:42: Its a nice portraying of how young people could react realizing the Feds just went "tovil" on caldari Prime, mixed reactions flowing through the brains coping the contradiction of removing the threatening titan in the capital system, but also scarring the lifes of millions on the planet. Really nice.

Also, i believe the image is from the upcoming film ender's game (based on the book afaik).
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Vincent Pryce on 25 Mar 2013, 06:44: Quote from: Bruno Bonner on 25 Mar 2013, 06:42

Also, i believe the image is from the upcoming film ender's game (based on the book afaik).

Right you are.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Cmdr Baxter on 25 Mar 2013, 11:34: Quote from: ArtOfLight on 25 Mar 2013, 06:23
Quote from: Arnulf Ogunkoya on 25 Mar 2013, 06:18
Quote from: Sepherim on 24 Mar 2013, 22:24
Nice read! :D

That it is. I can't help but wonder if real world cadets would respond this way though.

Where is the picture from by the way?

They may or may not respond that way, to be honest. The general reaction of people to simple news would be cheer but we are often far less gleeful when we see the effects. The silence is in realization of the great cost this victory would come at with the ship falling into the planet, etc. In general, the Federation populace has always responded negatively when the fallout from an action seems more costly than the benefit.

As for the picture - I found it on Google and blurred it intentionally.
While I'm not an expert on the Federation - not in any way, shape, or form - the reaction by real-world cadets would probably be quite the opposite of what you've depicted. Cheering, back-slapping, fist-shaking, etc. When I was on a 2009-2010 deployment with the USS Nimitz to the Gulf, an often-repeated desire was to sit off Bandar Abbas and buzz the Iranian control tower with F/A-18s, just to show them who was boss. We knew it would probably result in a firefight, and casualties, but we were supremely confident in the ability to kick some Iranian tail with a single aircraft carrier strike group.

The military mentality often works in different ways from civilians. Just to point that out.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: ArtOfLight on 25 Mar 2013, 12:23: Fair enough.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Vikarion on 25 Mar 2013, 13:10: What Baxter said. A realistic response would be to have the cadets cheering and calling for an invasion of New Caldari. Nonetheless, it's a good story.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Karmilla Strife on 25 Mar 2013, 13:17: I agree with Baxter and Vikarion. While it is a great story, I imagine the result would be more akin to a riotous celebration.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Lyn Farel on 25 Mar 2013, 13:24: It makes sense I guess, but I am not so sure myself. That's typically american to my eyes. I am genuinely curious to hear about that kind of things in other countries, now that I think of it.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Rhiannon on 25 Mar 2013, 13:44: Quote from: Lyn Farel on 25 Mar 2013, 13:24
It makes sense I guess, but I am not so sure myself. That's typically american to my eyes. I am genuinely curious to hear about that kind of things in other countries, now that I think of it.

What is typically American?
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: ArtOfLight on 25 Mar 2013, 13:51: Alright.

The general response was written with the understanding that most of the military people I've known in my life have never expressed joy or jubilation over mass destruction and death, even of an enemy. Most of them somberly realize that it's a bittersweet victory - at best.

It would seem that I seem to know all the unusual military personnel, as most are of a different opinion. Thank you for the reviews.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Norrin Ellis on 25 Mar 2013, 14:00: I'll throw in 2 cents, having been in the military, too...

In the moment, it's all high-fives and jubilation. Afterwards, there's serious reflection on the costs. At the end of the day, however, military personnel are property of the government, exercising force where politics and diplomacy have already been deemed a failure by the powers that be. Winning is their chief concern.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Lyn Farel on 25 Mar 2013, 14:10: Quote from: Rhiannon on 25 Mar 2013, 13:44
Quote from: Lyn Farel on 25 Mar 2013, 13:24
It makes sense I guess, but I am not so sure myself. That's typically american to my eyes. I am genuinely curious to hear about that kind of things in other countries, now that I think of it.

What is typically American?

Cheering over that kind of things. What we see in the movies.

Not saying that it is what happens or not in the US army. Some people like Malcolm seems to say that they do not know a lot of people like this, and others like Baxter seems to say the contrary... I am not making any statement here vOv.

Thats also why I was genuinely interested to know more about that.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Pieter Tuulinen on 25 Mar 2013, 14:19: Not at that scale. If you can watch the aftermath of the Hiroshima bomb and go 'Whoo! Yeah! Murrica!" then there's something wrong with you.

This is not watching a Spectre take out a vehicle with a few insurgents in it.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Karmilla Strife on 25 Mar 2013, 15:17: An analogy I would consider similar would be in WW2 when massive ships were sunk. These ships were the great menace of their day, just like the CN titan. Yes thousands of people died, which isn't a nice thing, but I'm sure the victorious side still cheered.

And yes, people cheered after Hiroshima. It's horrible, but that's the nature of war.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Korsavius on 25 Mar 2013, 15:46: I like how the announcer didn't even refer to the planet by its natural name. It sort of adds an element of dehumanization, so to speak. Nice story:)

And to put the Battle of Caldari Prime in perspective, approximately 60 million people died over the course of about five years during WW2. Recent news suggests "tens of millions" people died in the Battle of Caldari Prime. Let us be very generous and say 20 million died in the battle. That is a third of the total casualties of WW2, in less than a day's time. Pretty crazy stuff, I'd say.

Personally, I don't think Gallente military servicemen would cheer at the sight of a 7 km projectile steering towards a city that housed many Federal citizens.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Arnulf Ogunkoya on 25 Mar 2013, 17:13: Quote from: ArtOfLight on 25 Mar 2013, 13:51
Alright.

The general response was written with the understanding that most of the military people I've known in my life have never expressed joy or jubilation over mass destruction and death, even of an enemy. Most of them somberly realize that it's a bittersweet victory - at best.

It would seem that I seem to know all the unusual military personnel, as most are of a different opinion. Thank you for the reviews.

Just to be clear. I wasn't trying to say that it's a bad piece of fiction. I'm just wondering, as someone who has always been a civilian, how real military view this sort of thing.

I suspect veterans would have a subdued reaction, better appreciating what is happening. But cadets are in the middle of a serious bout of motivation to go out & kill people on behalf of the group that is training them.

I can also recall a couple of real life accounts by British servicemen (Bravo Two Zero & Sniper One) that portray people being very aggressive and eager for battle, mainly because they hadn't been in one. Most British troops that had been under fire previously had been so in places like Northern Ireland, which isn't the same sort of thing at all.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Aelisha Montenagre on 26 Mar 2013, 04:03: A good read IMO. The 'real response' is not something I am going to consider - thematic silence is thematic and a reflection of a general mode of response isn't required when the name of the game is mise-en-scene.

More fiction surrounding this event is welcome IMO, especially the views of estranged or foreign capsuleers on the Federation/State conflict and its fall out.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Pieter Tuulinen on 26 Mar 2013, 04:05: Quote from: Karmilla Strife on 25 Mar 2013, 15:17
An analogy I would consider similar would be in WW2 when massive ships were sunk. These ships were the great menace of their day, just like the CN titan. Yes thousands of people died, which isn't a nice thing, but I'm sure the victorious side still cheered.

And yes, people cheered after Hiroshima. It's horrible, but that's the nature of war.

I believe that there were some tears and cheers on Bismark when Hood went up.
Title: Re: The Sound of Liberty
Post by: Arnulf Ogunkoya on 26 Mar 2013, 04:32: Quote from: Pieter Tuulinen on 26 Mar 2013, 04:05
Quote from: Karmilla Strife on 25 Mar 2013, 15:17
An analogy I would consider similar would be in WW2 when massive ships were sunk. These ships were the great menace of their day, just like the CN titan. Yes thousands of people died, which isn't a nice thing, but I'm sure the victorious side still cheered.

And yes, people cheered after Hiroshima. It's horrible, but that's the nature of war.

I believe that there were some tears and cheers on Bismark when Hood went up.

No doubt. And respect for a valiant enemy is not entirely without precedent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Broadmead_Roope).