Chapter Thirty Six: Dilemma

"The problem I have with this mission is that we may have to kill Guildless who were forced to fight," Trigger said, his voice loud in the unusual silence of Delta's floor.

Trigger had been averse to killing anyone not involved with a mission for quite some time, and though it hadn't come up often, he stood steadfast about involving noncombatants.

Ronin, who was not a fan of the idea, was more open to it, so long as it resulted in success, particularly if they were shooting at him.

"If they're trying to kill us, they're not a noncombatant," Silas said, annoyed.

Sitting at her desk with Azue on the floor between her legs, she'd taken to playing with her hair when she was in thought, and it was clear something was bothering her as well.

Trigger stood and slammed his fist on his desk as he yelled, "You can shut up Silas! You're not the one who has to watch innocent people get killed with your weapons! I've already got enough blood on my hands as it is, I'm NOT going to kill innocent people!"

Silas rolled her eyes and said, "What did you think would happen when you sell guns Trigger? Did you think only criminals would be shot!?"

Ronin tapped his desk, annoyed at this branch of conversation, and said, "Trigger, calm down. Now. Silas, stop antagonizing him."

Trigger sat down and Sellius said, "I'm not averse to fighting these Cathols...but I do understand where Trigger's concerns lay. There are an unusually high amount of Guildless being killed as of late."

As Sellius spoke, Delta pulled up a report of casualties that the Horizon Suns had sent her and said, "There does appear to be a spike in violent crime since around the time we arrived."

Ronin rubbed his temples and said, "We develop weapons, Trigger, people die because of those weapons, this is not a new thing."

Trigger laughed and tapped his keyboard, pulling up pictures from around their building and said, "This is!"

The pictures flashed by, showing dozens of dead people, killed in the streets just around them.

"I've never had to SEE this, Ronin! I'm not LIKE you, I can't ignore the results of my work if they're right in front of me," he yelled angrily.

Ronin rolled his eyes and said, "You're facing the reality of our work, Trigger. If you want us to pull our weapons off the market and let the Guildless get massacred with no way to defend themselves, let's do it. Personally I don't care one way or another, everything else we design has enough traction to keep us going for now, but you KNEW people would die when you sold weapons."

Trigger stood back, shocked at Ronin's outburst and said, "I'm not saying that...I know my guns will be used to harm people...I just...I just don't want to do it with my own hands...that's all."

Ronin stood and walked to Trigger, putting his hand on his shoulder and said, "I understand. Trigger, I understand exactly what you mean, I'm not saying we should storm the High Cathols buildings and territories, killing anyone bearing their symbol. Hell, I'm not even suggesting you come if you don't want to, but if they try to kill us, what option do we have?"

Trigger sank into himself for a moment and said, "We're talking about killing someone's family, Ronin. Someone's father or mother...someone who may not even WANT to be there."

Ronin agreed and said, "Yes, you're right. Those are the people who are going to run. Right now the High Cathols are basically going unopposed, nobody's fighting them, so I think most of the people who were conscripted aren't even being trained. They're going to run, we just ignore them, Trigger, but anyone who stands and fights is obviously a threat to us AND the innocent you're trying to avoid killing."

Trigger rubbed his eyes, wiping away tears Ronin hadn't even seen forming and said, "I just...we've killed so many people, Ronin…"

Silas walked over and hugged Trigger from behind his chair and said, "I'm sorry, Trigger. I didn't know this was bothering you so much, why haven't you said anything?"

Trigger fell back into her hug, putting his hand on her arm, and said his voice weary and tired, "We've always killed bandits and people who were doing obvious harm...I guess I just started to think we were, I don't know, the good guys or something."

Scalpel sat up and said, "We're definitely better than most of the guilds, that's for sure."

Ronin looked at Sellius, who shrugged and said, "That's not difficult, that's for sure. With the exception of a few, most of the guilds seem content to use the Guildless for all they're worth and ignore them otherwise."

Silas squeezed Trigger one more time and said, "Ronin, do you think he can stay?"

Ronin nodded and said, "I'm actually not expecting much opposition here...it's a transport, not an armed convoy. More likely than not, there won't be any real force to try and stop us, we may be able to just stun and incapacitate."

Trigger sat deeper into his chair and said, "Thank you, Ronin."

Looking around the room, Ronin asked, "So who DOES want to come?"

 Azue, Scalpel, Trigger and Silas raised their hands and the rest sat quietly, looking away from him and he said, "Ok, then that settles that. Everyone else, I need you guys to try and find something we can sell that'll get a handle on this violent crime problem we're seeing. Trigger, try to work on a weapon that'll incapacitate people instead of killing them. We can't wash our hands of the blood we've spilled, but we can try to prevent more being lost."

Silas jumped up and grabbed Ronin and said, "Where are we going then?"

 Ronin frowned as he looked at Trigger and said, "Another Guildless territory...this one is up above the rest of the city, somehow."